BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Matt LeCroy began his minor league managerial career in 2009 in the A-Ball level South Atlantic League for the Hagerstown Suns. On Wednesday, parts of 15 minor league seasons later, he walked off the field a winner for the 1,000th time when his Rochester Red Wings squad used a 10-run eighth inning to defeat the Charlotte Knights, 13-1.
A total of 386 of those wins have come as the skipper of the Rochester Red Wings (22-18 in the second half, 68-46 overall), who celebrated his accomplishment in the clubhouse shortly after the game.
“I didn’t have that on my radar,” he said shortly after, his hair a bit wet from the celebration. “I’m proud of the way the game ended up, and then after… I got the shower for the 1000 wins. I’ve been very lucky and blessed to be able to do it this long. Hopefully, we can win a lot more.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
The game between the Red Wings and the Charlotte Knights (21-20 in the second half, 63-53 overall) on Wednesday night may have ended up a blowout win for the Wings, but for must of the game it was hardly an offensive showcase. The game was tied 1-1 until the sixth (Rochester’s lone run coming on an RBI single by Riley Adams in the second off Drew Thorpe) – even as the Red Wings took their final lead with a two-run bottom half of that inning, it came on only one hit, made possible more by walks and good baserunning than anything.
And then came the eighth inning, and an offensive explosion that culminated in a grand slam by Adams that brought in the last four runs of a 10-run frame for the home team and extended their streak of scoring at least six runs to seven straight games. Trey Lipscomb led off the inning with a solo home run off Joe Rock to make it 4-1, and then it was off to the races: Adams doubled, Cayden Wallace doubled, Maxwell Romero Jr. singled to score a run, and then Leandro Pineda walked. The Knights brought in Adisyn Coffey, but Johnathan Thomas kept the ball rolling by recording his first AAA single to score Wallace and extend the lead to 6-1. Seaver King singled in Romero to increase the lead to 7-1, and then Phillip Glasser had a bases-loaded walk for the team’s eighth run. After a Yohandy Morales strikeout, Lipscomb followed with his second RBI of the inning, singling in Thomas and bringing the score to 9-1.
And then came Adams, the designated hitter on the night, who caught a Coffey changeup 1-2 slider hanging and sent it 358 feet to left, over the fence to bring about the final score of 13-1.
Adams, who ultimately finished 4-for-5 with six RBI on the night, joked after the game that he’d helped LeCroy get to 1,000 wins in two ways: winning games for him in Rochester, but also losing games to him during his time coming up in the Blue Jays system.
“I’ve been there for [him] a decent amount, especially here in Rochester,” he said. “And I remember playing against him when he was coaching Harrisburg in AA…. It’s just been awesome, we’re excited for him, and he’s a good manager to have every day.”
The Californian’s day on Wednesday was one that had been a long time coming: his night broke a four-game hitless streak. His grand slam, the sixth of the season for the Red Wings, was his 11th home run of the year overall and first since July 31.
Although the 10-run eighth ultimately ended the game in realistic terms, the decisive inning had come earlier, in the sixth. King started the bottom of the inning getting hit in the back by a pitch by Jairo Iriarte, and then moved to second when Iriarte walked Phillip Glasser the old-fashioned way. Both runners then moved into scoring position on a successful double-steal – just in time for Yohandy Morales to line the inning’s lone hit up the middle, bringing in King to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. Morales then showed some heads-up baserunning, pulling off a delayed steal that saw him break for second while Charlotte catcher Korey Lee threw to the pitcher.
The Red Wings later added another run that inning when Adams hit an infield grounder that shortstop Andy Weber tried to turn into a play at home to get out Glasser, but the Rochester third baseman was able to beat the throw home, upping the lead to 3-1, which is where it’d remain until the big eighth inning.
On the mound, the Red Wings – who remain short on starting pitchers after the callup of Jackson Kent for Wednesday’s game in Washington – again used a “bullpen day” setup. Seven pitchers toed the rubber for Rochester while holding Charlotte to three hits, starting with Jared Simpson and ending with Gus Varland. Kyle Nicolas earned the relief victory, moving to 2-1 in AAA this season. The lone Charlotte run came in the top of the third, when Lee had an RBI single to left off Erik Tolman.
The victory leaves the Red Wings three games back in the second half International League playoff race, behind the 26-15 Indianapolis Indians.
The Red Wings will look to make up more of that ground on Thursday, when they and the Knights continue the seriesat 1:05 p.m. Rochester expects to send out lefty Carson Palmquist (0-0, 3.27) as an “opener” against Charlotte’s Shane Smith (1-0, 5.94).
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