By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester ties the game in the 9th and wins it in the 12th against Indianapolis.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings pulled out a thrilling, and unusual, 3-2, 12-inning victory over the Indianapolis Indians on Saturday night before 6,195 fans at Frontier Field.
Red Wings manager Mike Quade was ejected in the third inning after Zack Granite (5-10, 175) stepped on the foot of Indians first baseman Joey Terdoslavich (6-2, 200) on an attempted pickoff play. There was some shoving as first base coach Leonardo Reginatto also became involved. Quade came out to make his point and was tossed out of the game by home plate umpire Jeremy Riggs.
“He didn’t like the way I went in, but he apologized after. That’s baseball,” Granite said.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Granite reached on an error. Matt Hague grounded to short. When the throw was made to Terdoslavich for the out, Granite raced around the bag at second and continued on to third. Terdoslavich’s relay to third was high as Granite slid in safely.
“I got a pretty good jump on the pitch,” Granite said. “The ball went to short. I thought kind of perfect and I went with it, go to third…I was safe and kind of helped us go to extras.”
Daniel Palka, who went 3-for-4, lofted a sacrifice fly to center as Granite easily crossed the plate to tie the game.
Rochester starting pitcher Nik Turley went 5 innings as he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. He also struck out 5 batters. Relief pitchers Trevor Hildenberger, Buddy Boshers, and Drew Rucinski only allowed 2 balls to be hit out of the infield the rest of the game.
“That’s good to hear, means the ball is on the ground and their doing their job,” said pitching coach Stu Cliburn, who took over after Quade was ejected. “Hildenberger did a heck of a job (2.2 innings, 1 hit, 5 strikeouts); Boshers (1.1innings, no hits); Rucinski (3 innings, 1 hit) coming in there battled well.
“We took Turley out after that long inning. He had 88 pitches in five innings, which was kind of a grind so we took him out.”
In the bottom of the 12th, Terdoslavich was brought on to pitch for the Indians. ByungHo Park led off with a single. Reginatto was inserted to pinch-run by Cliburn. Tommy Field laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Reginatto to second. John Ryan Murphy walked and Engelb Vielma singled to load the bases.
Granite came up and ripped a hit to right-center.
“I was looking for a pitch I could handle, hit hard,” Granite said.
Reginatto scampered home with the apparent winning run. However, the umpires conversed as Murphy failed to touch third base. He was called out and Granite was credited with a fielder’s choice, but since it was only the second out, the run counted and the game was over.
“You’ve got to run and touch the bag,” said Cliburn. “He didn’t do that…We’ll have to address that,” he added with a smile.
The Indians scored a run in the second and Terdoslavich homer in the fifth. The Wings first run came in the home fifth after two outs. Hague and Palka singled, and Mitch Garver walked to load the bases. Niko Goodrum, who had 3 hits, including 2 doubles, drew a walk to force in Hague with the run.
There were a couple of fine defensive plays by both teams to keep the game tight. Indianapolis right fielder Barrett Barnes made a diving catch on Field’s sinking liner in the fourth after Goodrum led off with a double. The play saved at least one run.
For the Red Wings, first baseman Garver stretch to take the throw from shortstop Vielma in the top of the 12th to end the inning with the go-ahead run on third.
“It was a much-needed win,” Cliburn said. “The guys battled their hearts out.”
*NOTES – Niko Goodrum’s fourth inning double extended his hitting streak to 6 games…LHP David Hurlbut was activated from the disabled list and is the scheduled starter on Sunday…The Minnesota Twins called up LHP Adalberto Mejia, who was the winning pitcher in Minnesota on Saturday afternoon…Chili native and Aquinas graduate Chris Bostick went 0-for-5, but did reach on an error in the eighth. He played left field after playing second base in the series opener on Friday…The series continues with a Sunday matinee at 1:35 pm.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Zack Granite game-winning hit – https://youtu.be/fL0-BSRDG9Y
Zack Granite interview – https://youtu.be/Sp-aKO8ROSI
Stu Cliburn interview – https://youtu.be/TB6nE70_deg