BY MIKE ROSE
Rochester, NY — The Rochester Red Wings (3-0, 41-35) powered by late-inning fireworks swept Thursday’s doubleheader against the Indianapolis Indians (0-3, 33-43). The Red Wings rallied for a 4-3 extra-inning walk-off win in game one and followed to storm back from four down for a second walk-off win, 5-4.
“I’m super proud of the guys,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. “In Syracuse, they had a good team and the last two games there we came out of a little offensive funk and did some things to win ballgames and we carried it onto this series. Just really good at-bats at the end of both games.”
Game one was all Red Wings until the late stages. Carrying a 2-0 edge into the seventh, Rico Garcia blew his first save of the season for Rochester to send the game to extras after Liover Peguero launched a game-tying two-run home run. After Indianapolis took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth, Alex Call played the hero. He blasted a two-run walk-off home run into left field to win it for the Red Wings in the bottom half of the frame.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch and not do too much and had to battle that at-bat. Pitcher made a lot of good pitches but I was able to get that one,” Call said. “Second half of the season we just want to get things rolling for our team and I’m ready to get in there and compete every time I get a chance and it just feels really good to help our guys get things going.”
“He (Call) came to me right before the game on the bench and told me ‘I’m gonna make you change the lineup for game two’ because I always post the lineup for game two and sure enough he lived up to that today,” LeCroy said.
The walk-off was Call’s second of the season following a walk-off double back on April 17. Call drove in three of Rochester’s four runs in the first game.
The story prior to the heroics at the finish was Andrew Alvarez. In his first start of the second half. Alvarez pitched five shutout innings allowing three hits and two walks with a pair of punchouts. The Indians failed to advance a runner into scoring position against the lefty.
“I thought he had a really, really good mix,” LeCroy said of Alvarez. “He didn’t throw the fastball in as much as he normally does but he made pitches and just a really solid outing for him. He set the tone by throwing the ball over the plate. I think our pitching is starting to shore up a little bit and if we can get that knocked down with our offense we can do some really good things in the second half.”
The performance was Alvarez’s second shutout across his four Triple-A starts since making his Rochester debut on June 6.
Rochester got its early offense in the second. Three consecutive hits began the frame as Travis Blankenhorn singled and Juan Yepez doubled before Trey Lipscomb cashed in with an RBI single. Call would score Blankenhorn on a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 lead. No other scoring came in the game until the fireworks at the finish.
The fireworks extended into game two but it took a little while before they came alive as early on it was all Indianapolis. The Indians struck in the first on an RBI double from Seth Beer. They tacked on another run in the third on a Beer sac fly to build a 2-0 edge. In the sixth, the Indians seemingly put the game away as they tacked on two more runs to make it a 4-0 game.
Jake Woodford completely silenced the Red Wings’ offense holding a shutout into the sixth inning. Rochester mustered only one hit entering the sixth inning before Back-to-back singles from Darren Baker and Carter Kieboom chased Woodford. Blankenhorn plated the first run of the game on a fielder’s choice groundout and inched the Red Wings to within three runs.
The fireworks finally came back out in the final chance for Rochester. With one out and the bottom third of the order due up the Red Wings managed to load the bases with a walk from Brady Lindsly and Erick Meija sandwiching Stone Garrett being hit by a pitch. That set up Dylan Crews with an opportunity to put the Red Wings right back in it and he lined a two-run double to cut the margin to one.
“Overall we didn’t hit the ball as good but the momentum can shift at any time so we just gotta keep things going and keep rallying and that’s what we did in that last inning,” Crews said.
Crews was followed by Baker who drove in the tying run and reached on an error. Kieboom lit the last firework of the day, lofting a walk-off RBI single to score Crews and cap off a four-run seventh inning for Rochester. Kieboom was the lone source of offense most of the day for Rochester compiling his first three-hit game since September of 2021.
“The offense was kind of dragging a little bit and we needed something crazy to happen and it happened. Really happy for the guys and Carter to come up big,” LeCroy said.
The pair of victories marked a 3-0 start to the second for Rochester who with the addition of Crews to the lineup and a stabilizing pitch staff believes they are capable of making some noise in the International League.
“It’s pretty special, what we have going on here the vibes and everything here in the locker room are great,” Crews said. “It’s an awesome start to the second half and we gotta keep things rolling man. It’s a good lineup and we got a good pitching staff so as long as we have the right mindset every day and trust in each other good things will happen.”
The Red Wings will look to keep things rolling tomorrow in the fourth game of the series against the Indians. Spenser Watkins (4-3, 4.38) is slated to get the start for Rochester while Luis Cessa (2-2, 3.99) is scheduled to start for Indianapolis with the first pitch at Innovative Field set for 6:45 p.m.
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