BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The final home game of the 2026 Rochester Red Wings season had the usual festivities. Slugger Trey Lipscomb was named the team’s Most Valuable Player, while infielder Seaver King was named the Most Popular Player. Pitcher Chandler Champlain was named the team’s Most Civic-Minded, and longtime manager Matt LeCroy was honored with a donation to his family’s Halloween candy fund – reportedly he holds one of the best Halloween parties in South Carolina.
But unlike many past home finales in recent years, the Red Wings (41-28 in the second half, 86-56 overall) had something more than pride to play for: they were in a playoff race, and their 6-4 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (38-29 in the second half, 75-66 overall) kept them in sole possession of first place in the second half playoff race. Despite a delay of about an hour and 16 minutes after the third inning, the Red Wings stayed on task and pulled ahead in the fifth on a Liover Peguero RBI before adding much-needed insurance runs when Peguero doubled in two in the seventh.
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“I was super-excited for our club and the the players and fans to have our last series at home against an opponent like Scranton,” said LeCroy. “The game started up with us giving up two there in the second, but we kept answering, and kept answering, and then Peggy had a big hit there late and we did a good job with the bullpen.”
Tied 3-3 after four innings, the Red Wings started their game-winning scoring with a one-out double by Riley Adams, who then moved to third on a Leandro Pineda groundout. Up came Peguero, who worked a 1-1 count before getting hold of an Eli Morgan fastball and sending it into right field, bringing in Adams and putting the Red Wings ahead, 4-3.
Two innings later, he struck again, this time with two outs and men on first and second. Hayden Merda got to 1-2 on the Dominican second baseman, but Peguero was able to catch a hanging cutter and send it down the left-field line, where it it rolled into the corner and brought in Lipscomb and Adams to increase the lead to 6-3.
After the game, Peguero credited his key hits to just doing what he always tries to do.
“It’s just simple stuff, you know, I was just competing out there, and I got the pitches to hit and executed,” Peguero said.
Those insurance runs proved important, as Scranton scratched a run back in the eighth on a J.C. Escarra single, and then gave trouble to Gus Varland in the ninth, loading the bases with two outs and forcing the Wings closer from the game. Justin Lawrence was able to strike out Max Schuemann to end it, however, ending the game in a Red Wings victory
Earlier in the game, Pineda had driven in a run with a bases-loaded infield hit in the first to give Rochester an early 1-0 lead, while Trey Lipscomb got a run in on a fielder’s choice in the second. Oswaldo Cabrera hit two home runs for the RailRiders to provide all three of their early runs, but the Red Wings tied it up in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth to make it 3-3. That score would hold until Peguero’s heroics.
The victory keeps the Red Wings one game up on the Indianapolis Indians and increased their lead over Scranton to two games. Syracuse is 2.5 games back, with other teams also chasing.
LeCroy said the pennant chase was adding a enthusiasm to the clubhouse.
“I’m so excited for the group in [the clubhouse], fighting like crazy every single day – to me this is the playoffs, this what what it feels like in the atmosphere, the the way the games have been played, it’s been a dogfight every single night,” said LeCroy.
And he’s been proud of how they have reacted to the pressure.
“It’s probably the best team I’ve ever had in all my years managing, just a good group of men,” he said. “We’ve lost a bunch of guys to the big leagues, but the guys who have come up have been fighting and scratching and clawing in front of everybody to prove that we can be in this thing in the second half.”
Peguero was a late addition to the Red Wings, signing with the Nationals in mid-August. He says that the clubhouse has been focused on the pennant race as well.
“We play to win, and I think we’ve been having a really good rhythm, and hopefully we keep going with it,” said Peguero.
Rochester begins its final series of the regular season on Tuesday, when they begin a six-game set in Buffalo. Game one is at 6:05 p.m. with pitchers still to be announced.
“We’ve got to go to Buffalo and play really well,” said LeCroy. “We’ll embrace [the challenge] and enjoy it.”
“Hopefully we play the right way and go out there and finish it up.”
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