BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Just hours after heavy thunderstorms came through the region on Saturday, the Rochester Red Wings won their second straight game coming out of the All-Star break not with a bang, but with a wild pitch, as second baseman Cayden Wallace scampered home on a ball in the dirt from Josh White to give the Wings a 6-5 victory over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
“I was just trying to take the extra 90 [feet],” said Wallace post-game.
The score ended a ninth inning where the Red Wings (10-10 in second half, 55-38 overall) were able to get Wallace all the diamond without a single hit: he drew a walk to begin the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Maxwell Romero Jr., and then took third on a Phillip Glasser groundout. With two outs, center fielder Christian Franklin drew a walk, and then Abimelec Ortiz was intentionally walked to ensure a force-out at any base. Brady House came to the plate and was facing a 1-2 count, but White threw the ball in the dirt, allowing Wallace to rush home for the win.
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“We had Max with a great bunt to get me over to second, and Phil did his job to get me over [to third],” said Wallace, who finished the game 1-for-3 and scored twice. “They had good at bats after that, and then finally there was the fastball low, so I was just being aggressive. I was being prepared, me and Anthony [DiLeo, the Red Wings third base coach] were talking about it, that this guy had a chance to throw something away there, to be ready.”
Wallace’s walk-off run on the wild pitch ended what had been a see-saw game between the Red Wings and the AAA affiliate of the Miami Marlins. After falling behind early, the Red Wings jumped back in front, only to fall behind again before tying it up in the seventh and then winning it in the bottom of the ninth.
“I’m proud of them, man,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy post-game. “That was a back-and-forth battle. [Jacksonville’s] got a good team, we’ve kind of got some similarities in the way our offense is lined up, but any time we can win late like that, it’s hats off to the guys. We didn’t get down when we lost the lead, we battled back, and then we finished it up there [in the ninth].”
Although Saturday’s game started at roughly the scheduled time, it was still affected by the storms. The crowd was smaller than it was supposed to be, would-be special guest Robert Wuhl couldn’t get in and had to reschedule for Sunday, and there was an 18-minute delay in the second when issues were found with the field around first base.
The delay, according to LeCroy, was largely one of safety: the rain had made the ground soft near first base, increasing the chance of injury to a fielder or baserunner.
“It was the right thing to do to take the time to fix it,” he said. “We didn’t want to risk anybody getting hurt, and the grounds crew did a good job of making it way more playable.”
Earlier, the Jumbo Shrimp (8-11 in the first half, 50-43 overall) took an early lead off the bat of three-year MLB veteran Connor Norby, who connected off Chandler Champlain with one out in the first for a solo home run to make it 1-0. That score would stand until the fourth inning, when shortstop Trey Lipscomb came up with two on against Marlins No. 4 prospect Karson Milbrandt. Milbrandt, making his seventh AAA appearance, hung an 83.7 MPH sweeper right over the middle of the strike zone, allowing Lipscomb to immediately crush the ball over the left field fence at 102.2 MPH and a distance of 401 feet. Just like that, the Red Wings had jumped ahead, 3-1.
Jacksonville came back in the fifth with three runs (two earned) credited to the starting pitcher Champlain (who finished with a no-decision on four hits in 4.2 innings) to take a 4-3 lead, and then added another in the sixth on a Gage Miller RBI single to expand the lead to 5-3.
Rochester evened it up in the seventh, however, thanks to a two-out rally. After Franklin reached on an error by Norby, Ortiz came up with the bases loaded. After a called strike and two foul balls, he connected with a blooper towards left against Jack Ralston. Jacksonville left fielder Cam Cannarella rushed to try and get the ball but came up short, falling hard on the warning track. The ball itself bounced out of play, keeping it a ground-rule double but still scoring the tying runs to make the game 5-5.
That would hold until the ninth and the Red Wings’ victory.
Gus Varland earned the win in relief to move to 1-1 as a Red Wing, allowing a hit and a walk but preventing any runs from scoring and striking out two. Romero Jr., making his AAA debut after getting called up to replace the promoted Harry Ford, had no official at-bats – he walked three times and moved Wallace over on a sacrifice bunt.
The Red Wings and Jumbo Shrimp conclude their three-game series on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Jacksonville is expected to send out left-hander Patrick Monteverde (2-2, 5.80) against a Rochester pitcher still to be named, but who is expected to be rehabbing Washington National Trevor Williams. Williams, who has played parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues, is trying to make his way back to the MLB level after a UCL bracing procedure last season.
Thank you for your continued great coverage of the Red Wings!!!! We are fortunate to have a Triple AAA Team here, and you guys recognize that with such fantastic coverage!!