By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Brady House plated Jake Alu with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to cap a late-inning rally as the Rochester Red Wings defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers, 3-2 in front of 7,570 at Innovative Field, Wednesday afternoon.
The win was the third straight for the Wings including the past two over Omaha while the walk-off was the ninth of its kind this season for the home nine.
“We’re playing well,” said Wings manager Matthew LeCroy. “The guys are pulling for each other. We got a great group. We’re playing a tough team, so hopefully we continue this momentum into tomorrow.”
House connected on a slider out over the plate from Omaha reliever Evan Sisk for his third hit of the day.
“Just staying in the middle of the field,” said the first-round pick from the 2021 MLB draft. “In that situation, anything to the right side basically would have done the job. I was just trying to get it to the right side to get the runner to third.”
Wednesday’s three-hit effort was his first at the Triple-A level and first since June 13th at Double-A Harrisburg. That third knock of the day put a fitting cap on the day.
“It cut the gap, so I had a feeling it was going to get down.”
Hitting .292 since being called up from Harrisburg, House has a five-game hitting streak in which he is batting .429 (9-for-25) with seven RBI and a home run.
“It feels good especially we’re coming up on the end of the season. These are the dog days where everyone is out here grinding, and everyone is tired. You got to show up and give everything. Part of what I’ve been trying to do is show up and give everything I got, all on the field.”
“He’s starting to really play well,” LeCroy said. “He was getting hits when he got here, but now he’s starting to get his feet underneath him and his balance at the plate. He’s using his lower half.
“I was surprised they pitched to him at the end. I’m happy they did. He’s starting to come along.”
Orlando Ribalta struck out two and hurled a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the win.
Wings’ starter, Jackson Rutledge fanned a season-high nine over seven innings of work.
“I was very proud of him because he’s worked his tail off to make some adjustments,” LeCroy said. “It finally paid off for him.”
The 6-foot-8 right-hander’s lone slip of the day came on a two-out pitch to Omaha’s Nate Eaton in the third that the Storm Chasers’ left fielder sent over the fence in center field for a 2-0 lead.
“I was hoping the whole time that no way that this could be one pitch, one inning that could ruin his outing. It didn’t he made the adjustments. He stayed with the plan and was able to execute. They didn’t have many scoring opportunities off him. I’m just glad that we were able to pick him up and for him to not to get the loss.”
Stone Garrett doubled to lead the seventh and eventually scored on a José Tena base hit. Jack Dunn tied the game with a two-out single in the eighth that brought home pinch-runner, Erick Mejia.
“We just continue to claw and found a way,” LeCroy said. “Dunn with a big game-tying hit. There’s a lot of good things that happened. You got to find ways to win games like this, and we have this season.”
Garrett finished the day going 3-for-4 and closed the month of July hitting .370 (20-for-54) with three home runs, five doubles, nine RBI and an on-base percentage of .453.
Omaha starter Noah Cameron was making his Triple-A debut. The 6-foot-3 lefty struck out 10 without issuing a walk and allowed one run on seven hits over 6.2 innings. He left the game with a 2-1 lead.
“He made adjustment after adjustment,” LeCroy said. “We couldn’t make the adjustments. You got to tip your cap to the guy. He mixed to both sides of the plate. He had a really good change-up and was able to land a couple breaking balls. That just kinda kept us out of sync. The report on him is that he has a high ceiling. You could see the potential there.”
The same two teams meet Thursday for a 6:45 p.m. first pitch at Innovative Field. Right-hander Thaddeus Ward (5-3/6.00) get the start for Rochester (18-11/56-46). Righty Chandler Champlain (1-4/6.67) goes for Omaha (15-14/64-38). It’s “The Office Night” at the park with Todd Packer (David Koechner) from the hit television series making a special appearance.
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