Red Wings win in 11, regain top spot with four games left in first half

BY DAN GLICKMAN

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – At times, it’s better to be lucky than to be good. However, even if you have luck, you need to take advantage of it. In the 11^th inning of Wednesday’s game against the Toledo Mud Hens, with a position player on the mound for their foe after a late change in pitching plans left the Tigers’ affiliate short on arms, the Rochester Red Wings did just that, as Phillip Glasser connected against usual-outfielder Tyler Gentry, singling to left just out of the reach of a diving Corey Julks to win the game, 6-5.

“That’s the first time [I’ve ever hit a walk-off against a position player],” said Glasser after the game. “That was crazy.”

The Red Wings had trailed as late as the ninth inning, when Abimelec Ortiz hit a game-tying home run with one out to force extra innings. After each team scored one in the tenth, Wings pitcher Jack Sinclair held Toledo scoreless in the top of the 11^th, helping bring about the walk-off win.

With Nashville beating Memphis, 10-8, the win moved the Red Wings to 43-26 on the season and percentage points ahead of Memphis for the top spot in the International League first half with four games left to play. Nashville, at 42-29, is two games back. The top team at the end of Sunday will win the International League first half and host the league’s best-of-three championship series at the end of the season. Rochester has not had a playoff appearance since 2013. (A full run-down on playoff scenarios can be found at the bottom of this article.)

VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.

The game was an unusual one almost from the very beginning. Heading into the game, it was expected that pitcher Ty Madden would start for Toledo. And yet, when the game began, it was Woo-Suk Go on the hill. An unexpected bullpen game for Toledo that surprised even Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy.

“Their manager, Gary Jones, called me last minute, said they had to take him out,” LeCroy said. “That was probably 30 minutes, 25 minutes before the game. All the hitting guys were done in the cage for the day already, they had to switch [their plans].”

It was a sudden change that would make a big difference. That, though, would come later.

First, the Red Wings opened scoring in the bottom of the second. Joey Wiemer drew a walk to start the inning against Go, then moved to second when Robert Hassell III grounded out. After Riley Adams struck out, though, Glasser and Seaver King had back-to-back doubles, driving in first Wiemer and then Glasser to give the Wings the 2-0 lead.

Toledo struck back in the top of the fourth against Red Wings starter Luis Perales. Perales walked Max Anderson to start the inning, before striking out the next hitter, Gage Workman. Up came Toledo catcher Eduardo Valencia, who jumped on a 2-0 slider and lined it to left for a double that put him at second and Anderson at third. Trei Cruz grounded out, but Anderson came in to score to make it 2-1. Corey Julks then hit a ball towards left, only for third baseman Brady House to come in and stop it. With no way of getting the lead runner at home, he threw to first, where Julks was able to beat the throw for the game-tying infield hit, making it 2-2.

In the fifth, Toledo moved ahead against Perales. First, Jace Jung worked a 3-2 count before getting hold of a changeup low, sending it at 100 miles per hour over the right-center field fence for his 11^th home run of the year. Later in the inning, Cal Stevenson hit a solo home run to extend the lead to 4-2.

Rochester started to claw back, with Yohandy Morales driving in a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3. However, it seemed the Red Wings were having little luck at the plate when they most needed it. Twice, Morales hit balls well that were run down at the warning track by Toledo outfielders. The team struggled in general with men in scoring position, finish 4-for-15 on the day. Some baserunning mistakes wasted away opportunities.

Finally, though, in the ninth, with one out after Morales narrowly missed a home run, Ortiz hit his 12^th of the season, a first-pitch fly ball off Matt Seelinger that landed 414 feet away, over the center field fence. The score was now 4-4.

In the tenth, with Zak Kent on the mound, Stevenson moved the ghost-runner, Gentry, over to third on a lineout. Jack Sinclair then came in to replace Kent… and promptly had a wild pitch that allowed Gentry to score to make it 5-4.

“[My thoughts were already] about the next pitch, obviously I didn’t want to do that, but it’s not the end of the world – I trusted our offense was going to score,” said Sinclair. “We gave gave them the chance, and we did that.”

Sinclair buckled down, striking out Ben Malgeri before getting Max Anderson to ground out. And just as he thought, the Red Wings did score in the bottom of the tenth, as Andrew Pinckney moved to third on a flyout before coming around to score on a ground-out to tie the game at five. Sinclair then struck out two while working a hitless 11^th, bringing the game to the bottom of the 11^th.

And it was here where the bullpen day came around to help the Red Wings. Having used more pitchers than they planned, Toledo was forced to have Gentry pitch. Although he’d thrown a scoreless inning earlier in the season, it wasn’t because of his speed (he’d end up topping out at 40.2 MPH on Wednesday). Which, Glasser mentioned, actually forced a bit of an adjustment.

“When you face a position guy, it’s actually kind of tough, you have to try and start a little later and try not to do too much,” said Glasser. “It is crazy going from 95 [MPH] to 38.”

On the third pitch from Gentry, Glasser inside-outed the pitch towards left. Julks dove to get the liner but missed, and the throw in was far too late and not accurate enough to get Christian Franklin, who had pinch-run for Adams at second to start the inning.

Glasser, despite not playing every game, has been an important part of the Red Wings, and has made the most of games he has played, such as his 2-for-3, two RBI and a walk performance on Wednesday. The Ohio native also has had a flare for the dramatic – this was the second time this season he drove in a game-winning run in the 11^th.

“These guys, this team, they did a great job of putting me in that position,” Glasser said post-game.

His approach to the grind is something that has caught his manager’s eye, as well.

“He’s a gamer, man,” says LeCroy. “I hate to use this word about him, but I call him an ‘ugly’ player, a dirtbag. It won’t look pretty all the time, but let me tell you something, you know something good is going to happen when he plays.”

And that’s what happened on Wednesday – leading the Red Wings ever-closer to a possible postseason berth.

–

The playoff scenarios as they exist now, assuming no further games are lost due to rainout, are this:

• If the Red Wings win out and finish the first half 47-26 (.6438 winning percentage), they will clinch a title regardless.
• If the Red Wings go 3-1 and finish the first half 46-27 (.6301), Memphis would need to go 4-0 to beat the Red Wings for the title with a record of 48-27 (.640). Nashville would have no way of winning the title, as even if they won all four remaining games for a record of 46-29 (.6133) they’d still be behind Rochester.
• If the Red Wings go 2-2 and finish the first half 45-28 (.6164), Memphis would need to go 3-1 to beat the Red Wings with a record of 47-28 (.6267). Nashville would have no way of winning the title, as their record would still be below Rochester’s winning percentage.
• If the Red Wings go 1-3 and finish the first half 44-29 (.6027), Memphis would need to go 2-2 to beat the Red Wings with a record of 46-29 (.6133), while Nashville would need to go 4-0 (46-29) to win the title.
• If the Red Wings are winless the rest of the way, 0-4, and finish the first half 43-30 (.589), then Memphis would need to win just one game and finish 45-30 (.600). Nashville, by virtue of playing Memphis, would go 3-1 in this scenario and also finish 45-30 (.600), leading to a tiebreaker between Nashville and Memphis to determine who would be champion. Nashville could also win the half outright if they go 4-0 and the Red Wings go 0-4.
• There is also a slight chance that the St. Paul Saints, currently three games back of Rochester with five games left to play due to a Thursday doubleheader, could overtake the Red Wings and everyone else by winning out, which would put them in first in a scenario where Rochester goes 0-4 and Nashville wins three of the four remaining games in the series with Memphis.

The earliest the Red Wings can clinch is Friday night, which would require the Red Wings to win Thursday and Friday while Memphis loses both games. The earliest the Red Wings can be eliminated is Saturday, which could occur if Rochester loses on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday while Memphis wins Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

A potential foul-up could be the weather. While it is generally considered unsporting and dishonorable to cancel games that directly affect the pennant race unless if absolutely necessary, such things do occur. There would be no official recourse or forced makeup games if a game were cancelled in such a way to manipulate the standings, given the Minor Leagues’ true purpose of player development as opposed to championship play as well as the logistical and scheduling concerns that would be involved. As of Wednesday, Rochester has no forecasts of heavy rain for the remainder of the first half of the season, but Memphis is facing potential thunderstorm threats on Thursday as well as Saturday and Sunday.

The series continues on Thursday night, with Rochester’s right-handed Chandler Champlain (5-1, 3.47) set to face Toledo righty Sawyer Gipson-Long (2-3, 4.43). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.