BY DAN GLICKMAN
The Rochester Red Wings (44-30 in the second half, 89-58 overall) sit on the brink of the team’s first playoff appearance since 2013 after a 7-3 win over the Buffalo Bisons (33-38 in the second half, 68-78 overall) on Saturday, but a berth is not fully secure yet.
Rochester’s win on Saturday meant that losses by the Indianapolis Indians and Syracuse Mets on Saturday night would clinch a playoff spot for the Red Wings. While Indianapolis lost and was eliminated, Syracuse won its game, meaning the Red Wings can clinch on Sunday with a win or a Syracuse loss.
Two-hit days from Trey Lipscomb, Cayden Wallace, and Max Romero Jr. led the Wings to the road victory, with Wallace in particular providing an offensive spark with two doubles and three RBI to go with a walk.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
Wallace’s assault on Buffalo pitching began in the top of the first. After Seaver King led off the game with a double and then moved to third on a Lipscomb groundout, Wallace got hold of a 1-0 cutter and sent it sharply down the left-field line. Buffalo third baseman Nick Goodwin tried to stop it, but was only able to deflect the ball, allowing King to come around to score and give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. Wallace himself would score a few batters later on a single by Leandro Pineda.
Rochester extended its lead in the top of the second, when Lipscomb singled in Romero with two outs. Although Lipscomb would get thrown out while trying to extend his hit into a double, Romero had already scored, making it 3-0.
Although the Bisons got on the board with a solo shot by Yohendrick Pinango off Zak Kent in the bottom of the fourth, Wallace got that run back and then some in the top of the fifth, doubling with two men on to up the lead to 5-1. He’d later help add on another run in the eighth, when he ran home with two outs on a wild pitch to further extend the lead to 6-1.
The Bisons threatened in the bottom of the ninth, with a rehabbing Anthony Santander doubling in a run against Jake Bird and Daz Cameron bringing in another run on a sacrifice fly after Gus Varland was brought in to close the game. Varland struck out Pinango immediately after to end the game, ensuring the Red Wings would enter the final day of the season in command of their own destiny.
A total of seven Red Wings took the mound on the day, beginning with Kent – who went four innings of four-hit ball while allowing the Pinango home run and striking out three – and going through Joe Glassey (who was awarded the win for a shutout fifth inning where he struck out three and allowed a hit), Clayton Beeter (who worked around two walks), Max Kranick, Kyle Nicolas, Bird, and Varland. In all, Wings pitchers held the Bisons to eight hits while striking out 11.
The Red Wings conclude their regular season on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. Left-hander Connelly Early is expected to make a rehab start for the Red Wings. Early struggled in his first rehab start for the Red Wings, allowing three earned runs in one inning of work, but before his injury and trade to Washington he had gone 7-5 with a 3.44 ERA for the Boston Red Sox.
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