By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The Rochester Red Wings capped an afternoon of bloops and blasts with one final, game-winning bloop.
Taylor Gushue’s ninth-inning pop-up found the right field grass, behind sliding right fielder John Andreoli and just out of the reach of retreating second baseman Drew Maggi, to score pinch-runner Matt Lipka from second base and snag a 10-9 victory. A 19-run, 29-hit Thursday matinee concluded with Rochester’s first win of the series.
Gushue collected three hits, singling twice before the walk-off double, and the winning hit was likely his softest contact of the contest. No matter; in a “last score wins” affair, the home team scored last.
“Really proud of the boys. They continue to pick each other up,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy remarked. “They continue to fight and compete ’til the last out. This game was a testament to that.”
Each team burst out of a weather-delayed start, matching four-run first innings with two-run seconds. Lehigh Valley took a one-run lead in the third, but Rochester tied the game on Joey Meneses’s home run in the fourth. The Red Wings took a 9-7 advantage in the sixth, but the IronPigs used a Scott Kingery triple and Darick Hall home run to force a bottom of the ninth. Meneses walked to lead off the ninth, with Lipka pinch-running, stealing second and scoring the final run.
The day after the first four batters in the Rochester order combined to bat just 2-of-16, each of the top four hit safely at least twice. Meneses was a perfect 4-for-4, driving in a pair of runs for the first time since last Friday; Luis García broke out of an 0-for-13 slump with two hits in four at bats; Stevenson had a 3-for-5 day, also stealing two bases, and has upped his batting average to .299; and Gushue, batting cleanup, recorded three RBI.
Red Wings starter Jefry Rodriguez allowed a first-inning home run for the second time this season, and Nick Maton played wall ball with a triple, but Rodriguez also fell victim to a well-placed Edgar Cabral pop-up that eluded Lucius Fox and landed in shallow right field, scoring Maton from third. The 4-0 deficit evaporated in the bottom half, as Rochester welcomed IronPigs right-hander James Marvel to Frontier Field with five straight singles. No. 7 batter Lucius Fox recorded the first out, but it was a productive one that scored the tying run.
Rochester scored its eighth run on an error by IronPigs catcher Edgar Cabral, who compounded Joe Gatto’s wild pitch by throwing the ball away as Stevenson cruised home from second base. Meneses stayed hot to provide insurance, singling in García for his third four-hit game of the season.
Lehigh Valley’s hit parade ended with Red Wings reliever Cory Abbott. Abbott, making his Frontier Field debut after being claimed off waivers from San Francisco on May 4, struck out five batters in a row, the first Red Wing to do so since Lewis Thorpe fanned seven straight in 2019. The 26-year-old righty allowed just one baserunner in two innings and left in line for the victory.
Sam Clay scattered two hits but held the lead in the seventh with his 12th consecutive scoreless inning, the longest streak on the team. Jordan Weems blew the save opportunity, with Hall clubbing his sixth home run against the Red Wings this year, but kept the score knotted by striking out Andreoli and Edgar Cabral to end the inning.
All told, the Rochester bullpen threw 6.1 innings of two-run, five-hit relief, striking out 10 to just two walks.
“Jefry struggled,” LeCroy acknowledged. “He didn’t walk people, but he gave up a lot of hits. He just kind of didn’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ today like normal, left a lot of balls up in the zone, but the boys picked him up. The bullpen did a nice job of keeping us in the game. … [Weems] hung up a split-finger [fastball] for a two-run shot to tie it up and he battled after that, kept the game tied and then we were able to push one across there in the ninth inning.”
The Red Wings’ walk-off comes as little surprise to LeCroy, who not only had the top of the order coming to the plate but manages the best team in the International League in late and close situations. Rochester holds a league-leading .955 OPS when it’s either leading by a run, tied or has the potential tying run on base, at bat or on deck.
“I think the whole team’s confident when those guys come up to the plate,” LeCroy noted. “Obviously we do feed off of those guys. Stevie and Luis and Joey have had tremendous years, so hopefully they’ll continue to do that.”
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