Wings edged by IronPigs

BY JONATHAN SKUZA

ROCHESTER,N.Y.- – The Rochester Red Wings dropped a back-and-forth contest to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 14-13 Wednesday evening.

“Hats off to my guys,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy sais. “They stayed at it the whole game. I’m proud of them. We didn’t come out on the winning side of it, but I’ll take that because that could carry over to something good.”

Rochester fell behind early after Lehigh Valley sent 12 batters to the dish pushed across seven runs to open up the ballgame. The big first inning was highlighted by Matt Kroon leading off the inning with a home run in his Triple-A debut. After the long ball, the IronPigs played small collecting the other six runs on seven base hits and one error.

The Red Wings took the opening gut punch from Lehigh Valley and answered back with a punch of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Travis Blankenhorn got Rochester on the board with a two RBI double. Catcher Drew Millas followed up with a two RBI base hit to bring the Wings within three.

The IronPigs continued to knock Rochester around by adding two more runs the following inning. Jim Haley took a 3-2 pitch 410 feet down the left field line to widen the lead for Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley continued to pile on runs in the third inning after the Wings went down in order the previous inning. Roger Clemens’ son Kody Clemens doubled to score Kroon who led off with a double of his own. Darick Hall drove the first pitch he saw 417 feet to right field two batters later to put the Wings in a nine run hole.

Unlike the second inning, Rochester had an answer for the IronPigs in the bottom half of the third inning. Blankenhorn and Millas continued their strong evenings at the plate with each registering an RBI double. Cody Wilson drove in Millas on a base hit after pinch-hitting for Matt Adams and a wild pitch moving the catcher to third. Richie Martin scored Wilson with two outs in the inning with a base hit.

“I think Drew has had some really big swings of late,” Blankenhorn said.

The middle innings didn’t see much scoring as both teams were able to limit each other’s offenses. Max McDowell drove in the lone run between the fourth and sixth innings on a base hit in the sixth.

Trailing six runs in the eighth inning, the Rochester offense set themselves up to complete another come from behind victory for the second night in a row. Jack Dunn cut the lead in half in the eighth with a two-out three-run home run to left field to bring some life back into the fans still in attendance at Innovative Field.

“A huge home run,” Blankenhorn said. “That put us back within reach. So having that home run definitely gave us a little spark.”

Blankenhorn capped off a five RBI night with a two-run blast to right field on a 3-1 pitch to put Rochester within one of tying Lehigh Valley.

“I’m trying to go at-bat by at-bat,” Blankenhorn said. “I’m really focusing on something like swinging at good pitches.”

Rochester’s luck from the night prior had run out as they couldn’t complete another comeback.

The Rochester Red Wings (18-17/52-56) will look to take control of the series against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (21-13/57-50) Thursday at 6:45 p.m. Righty Roddery Munoz (0-1, 4.66) will get the start for Rochester while right-hander Drew Hutchinson (4-4, 5.33) will get the ball for Lehigh Valley.