BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In Saturday’s crucial game in the second-half International League playoff race, the Rochester Red Wings (40-28 in the second half, 85-56 overall) found themselves in deep trouble. Baffled by a great pitching performance for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders’ Adam Kloffenstein even as Scranton used three home runs off Rochester ace Chandler Champlain to power to a 6-0 lead as the bottom of the sixth began, it looked like they were destined to fall a game back in the International League second-half playoff standings.
And then the sixth inning began, and with it a remarkable Rochester comeback that saw them score six runs in the sixth to tie it up and then another on a single by designated hitter Riley Adams in the seventh to go ahead before holding on the rest of the way to defeat Scranton (38-28 in the second half, 76-65 overall), 7-6, moving a game up with six left to play.
“We got down in a hole, but the guys who created the ‘never-say-die Wings’ kept at it, and it went our way there,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
The Red Wings offense had found itself stymied by Kloffenstein until the sixth, and with a six-run deficit, it didn’t look good. In fact, the website Baseball Savant gave the RailRiders a 97% chance of winning. Even LeCroy, who always looks for the positive side for his squad, admitted after the game that he was skeptical of their chances.
“I didn’t feel good about it, we hadn’t been making many adjustments off the starter, he’d done a really nice job,” said LeCroy.
Indeed, Kloffenstein, who had entered the game with a 4-11 record and a 4.89 ERA, allowed only two hits in the first five innings, and had struck out eight, including two innings where he struck out the Red Wings’ top-third of the lineup (Seaver King, Buddy Kennedy, and Trey Lipscomb) in order.
But the third time through the order proved the charm for Rochester. King led off the inning with an infield single, and then Kennedy was hit by a pitch. Lipscomb followed with an infield single of his own, loading the bases with no outs. It was then that the Red Wings finally got on the board, as Cayden Wallace singled to right to bring home King and make it 6-1.
Then the parade continued: Riley Adams singled through the left side to score Kennedy, and then a wild pitch brought home Lipscomb to cut the Scranton lead to 6-3. Kloffenstein was pulled for Yerry De Los Santos after walking Leandro Pineda, and it looked for a second like Scranton had stabilized after De Los Santos struck out Max Romero Jr. However, Liover Peguero followed with an RBI single to turn the scoreboard to 6-4, and finally Sam Petersen got hold of a sinker and sent it to center field to score Adams and Pineda and tie the game up. Although, Peguero was thrown out on the basepaths on the play, and King was then struck out to end the inning, the damage was done.
TIE GAME. SAM PETERSEN DELIVERS. ?
Sam Petersen comes through with a clutch two RBI single to bring home a pair and even things up!
ESL Play of the Game l @eslfcu pic.twitter.com/6o43kuTOxu
— Rochester Red Wings (@RocRedWings) September 13, 2026
In the end, the Red Wings had sent 10 hitters to the plate (including King twice) and had six hits – all singles. It was, amazingly, tied 6-6 as the crowd of 10,153 cheered.
The next inning, the Red Wings took the lead, as Kennedy led off with a single off Santos. While Lipscomb and Wallace both struck out, Kennedy moved up on a wild pitch, meaning Adams came up with a runner in scoring position – a runner he brought home with an 0-1 liner up the middle to give Rochester its first lead of the night: 7-6.
“All year, we’ve been just trying to just trust the next guy,” said Adams post-game. “We started that [sixth] inning off with Seaver, a good infield single from hustling that one out, and then we just kind of drove them home, next one up.”
But Scranton wouldn’t go quietly, getting a man on in the eighth and then seriously threatening in the ninth, when the speedy Ellis – second in the league with 52 stolen bases – drew a walk against Gus Varland. He took off the next batter – only to be thrown out by Romero in what LeCroy called the “throw of the year.”
That caught-stealing proved pivotal, as the next batter, pinch-hitter Ernesto Martinez Jr., doubled. Had Ellis been on second, he almost certainly would have scored the tying run. While the RailRiders got Martinez to third on a ground-out, Varland was able to force Schuemann to pop out to end the game, giving Rochester the hard-earned victory. Varland earned his eighth win of the season, while Max Kranick got the relief win to move to 1-0 in AAA.
Up until that sixth-inning rally, it had been all Scranton. After both sides were scoreless in the first, Scranton second baseman Marco Luciano led off the second, just a day after he hit a game-winning home run for the RailRiders the night before. He homered again, finding a hanging slider from Champlain and smashing it for a towering solo shot to left to give Scranton a 1-0 lead.
Although Champlain got the next two men out, Scranton continued to threaten. Tyler Hardman singled, and then Duke Ellis hit a ball deep to left-center. Sam Petersen was unable to run it down, and it looked like an RBI double was a forgone conclusion – until the ball bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double. The ground rule meant Hardman had to stop at third, which allowed Champlain to force a groundout by Abrahan Gutierrez to escape the inning down only one.
Scranton extended its lead in the top of the third, again thanks to the long ball. First came shortstop Max Schueman, who golfed a Champlain sinker 389 feet to left to up the score to 2-0 in the RailRiders’ favor with one out. Champlain later walked Luciano with two outs to bring up right fielder Yanquiel Fernandez. The left-handed Cuban worked a 3-2 count before catching a cutter high and sending it over the right field fence to increase Scranton’s lead to 4-0.
The scoring continued when Hardman doubled in a run off Ben Grable in the sixth, and later scored on an Ellis single to make it 6-0.
But then came the bottom of the sixth, and the innings that followed – and the Red Wings left their second-to-last home game of the season in playoff position.
“Hopefully this momentum will continue into tomorrow,” says LeCroy.
The two teams conclude their series – and Rochester’s home schedule – on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Rochester hadn’t announced a starter officially yet, but LeCroy said it was likely that Zak Kent would serve as an opener. Scranton is expected to send out right-hander Alexander Cornielle (5-4, 2.73).
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