BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A four-run ninth inning rally was the difference maker as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs defeated the Red Wings 4-2 Wednesday evening at Innovative Field.
”I thought we played a really good ballgame up until the last inning,” Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said. “It’s kinda been our season, if we don’t play perfect, we’re finding ways to lose.”
Rochester led 2-0 for most of the ballgame, before a one-out, four-run rally turned the Red Wings night upside down. The rally started when Rodolfo Castro hit a fly ball to center field to pull the IronPigs within one. Then, Cade Fergus dealt the big blow the next at-bat with a towering 438 foot home run to left field to give Lehigh Valley its first lead of the evening late in the ball game.
Rochester could not respond after the big Lehigh Valley inning and went down in order to lose its fourth straight contest and seventh of the last eight.
The eight innings prior, Rochester played a strong game that was led by their starter.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
Seth Shuman in his second Triple-A start was able to toss five innings of shutout baseball where he fanned five IronPigs and only surrendered one hit and two walks.
”I am really proud of him,” LeCroy said. “I hope he continues to keep it going and his confidence keeps growing.”
The right-hander finished his outing on the mound by setting down the final five Lehigh Valley hitters he faced before the ball was turned over to the bullpen in the sixth inning.
Patrick Weigel came in and continued what Shuman started as in two innings of work he struck out five of the six batters he faced. Weigel’s bullpen outing was capped off by striking out the side in his second inning of work. The right-handed bullpen arm extended his no earned run streak to four contests.
”He’s got a really good slider,” LeCroy said. “They struggle with the sliders at times and we took advantage of that and got some swing and misses.”
The Red Wings pitching staff finished with 14 punch outs on the evening with 10 of them coming from Shuman and Weigel.
The Rochester bats provided some early run support for Shuman. Andrew Knizner continued his hot start to the season as he drove in Andrew Pinckney with a two out RBI double. Pinckney extended his on-base streak to 11 games as he led off the inning with a base hit and got into scoring position with a stolen base.
Brady House added the insurance the following inning as he took the first pitch he saw and hit it 368 feet into the Lehigh Valley bullpen in left field. The solo home run extended House’s on-base streak to 15 games.
“He’s got a tremendous skill set,” LeCroy said. “If he can be more consistent, he’s going to be a nice addition to our big league team. Hopefully, he continues to stay hot, and as the weather gets hot, he gets even hotter.”
Daylen Lile who was called up earlier on Wednesday made his presence felt in his first Triple-A at-bat as he laced a triple to center field for his first Triple-A hit.
”I thought it was great, it gave us that spark we needed in the first inning,” LeCroy said. “He’s a ball of energy. He can hit. He’s got a good approach for a young kid. He’ll provide something for our offense to get us going.”
The 22-year old showed the Rochester fans his hitting and fielding ability with the triple and a nice catch in right field in the second inning. Lile also showed some game one jitters as he lost a ball in the lights late in the ballgame.
”Just looking forward to getting better each and every day,” Lile said. “You gotta take the good with the bad and stay level headed. Gotta learn from the mistakes and build off from the positives.”
The Louisville, Kentucky native was on a 14 game hitting in Double-A Harrisburg before being called up to Rochester.
The Rochester Red Wings (6-22) will look to start fresh with the new month on Thursday as they have a quick turnaround against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-8) at 11:05 a.m. as Rochester will send righty Andry Lara (0-2, 9.00) to the mound and Lehigh Valley will have right-hander Kyle Tyler (2-2, 3.42) toe the slab.
Leave a Reply