BY DAN GLICKMAN
Yohandy Morales and Cayden Wallace each homered while five Rochester Red Wings pitchers combined for a 4-hit shutout as Rochester (31-20 in the second half, 76-48 overall) moved into a first place tie in the International League second half with a 9-0 victory against the Omaha Storm Chasers (24-25 in the second half, 57-66 overall) on Sunday.
Rochester ultimately won five of their six games in Omaha against the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
With the win, Rochester moved equal to the Indianapolis Indians for first place and a half-game ahead of the Durham Bulls.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
Morales led the way for the Red Wings, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, including a two-run home run (24th of the season) in the third inning to extend Rochester’s lead to 3-0. Seaver King had earlier put the Wings on the board with a one-out RBI single, one of two hits on the day for the shortstop.
The 3-0 lead held until the seventh, when the Red Wings added three more: a one-out single by Leandro Pineda that escalated after a throwing error by Omaha pitcher Luke Little, and then a two-RBI single by Morales. Cayden Wallace brought the game to a final score of 9-0 with a three-run blast – his sixth at AAA this season – in the ninth.
Trey Lipscomb went 1-for-5 on the night, but his lone hit – a single in the ninth – extended his hit streak to 19 games.
On the mound, Jared Simpson started the game, going three innings of one-hit ball while striking out two. Riley Cornelio earned the win (6-1) for two innings of two-hit ball, striking out four, and was followed by Yovanny Cruz, who allowed one hit in the sixth. Luis Perales pitched a hitless seventh and eighth inning before Jack Sinclair finished off the game with a perfect ninth.
The Red Wings return to Rochester to begin a series with the Buffalo Bisons beginning this Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.
Wings keep rolling along. The race for 1st is being hotly contested by 5 teams and Buffalo is within striking distance if the Wings struggle to beat them this week (which we all hope doesn’t happen)
The tie breakers could come down to that very strange one….the record for each team over their last 20 games.
Every game is important now, with just 24 to play. If Rochester goes 14-10 they will win 90 games. That is something they haven’t done in over 70 years but it probably won’t be enough to earn 1st place 2nd half.
If in fact Rochester finishes with the best record in the IL (and right now they have an enormous lead over every team but St Paul) and they don’t qualify for the post season, the league MUST make changes because that would be totally ridiculous and unfair. The playoff protocol in the IL is without question the most stupid, brainless, ill-conceived playoff of any pro sport. No exceptions. MLB needs to be taken out behind the shed and flogged. Of course they don’t care.
Even if the Wings manage to qualify, they won’t play any games at home….another stupid rule made by the constipated suits running the show in MLB..