Rochester comes from a 3-0 deficit to notch an 8-5 victory.
By Ryan Hagen
TOLEDO, OH. — After snagging their first win of the season on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Field, the Wings came into Thursday night looking to build some momentum on the road. The club did just that, pulling off a late-game rally to win in extra innings, 8-5.
Trailing by two runs in the top of the 9th inning, the Wings made one last effort to steal the game away from Toledo. Luis Garcia led off the inning for Rochester with a single to right field, giving the Wings a base runner to build a rally off of. With one out, Joey Meneses singled to right field, and both runners moved into scoring position after a fielder’s choice. Nick Banks delivered the clutch hit the Wings needed, hitting a single of his own to center field, and both Garcia and Meneses scored to tie the game at three runs apiece.
The Wings built off of their ninth-inning heroics as the two clubs headed to extras. With a runner on second base and no outs in the top of the 10th, Donovan Casey delivered for the second night in a row, hitting a triple on the third pitch of his at-bat to score Chris Herrmann and give the Red Wings a 4-3 lead. Adrian Sanchez kept the momentum going for Rochester, hitting a single up the middle to score another run for the Wings as they grabbed a late-game lead.
Toledo attempted a rally of their own in the bottom of the inning. Jack Lopez doubled to lead off the inning, scoring the runner from second to cut the Red Wings’ lead to one run. Zack Short worked a walk on five pitches, and the Mud Hens put the winning run on first base with no outs.
Kody Clemmens laid down a bunt attempting to move the runners, but Carson Teel smartly fielded the ground ball and fired it to third to get the lead runner for the first out. One out away from the win Ryan Kreidler hit a ground ball in the infield, but a throwing error allowed Kreidler to reach safely, and Zack Short scored for the Mud Hens, tying the game in the bottom of the inning.
The two teams were held scoreless in the 11th inning and headed into the top of the 12th tied at five runs apiece. With one out, Sanchez singled to center field, scoring Herrmann to give the Wings a one-run lead. Garcia followed one at-bat later, hitting a single of his own to expand the Rochester lead to two runs. Jake Noll then tripled off of the center-field wall, giving the Red Wings a commanding 8-5 lead over the Mud Hens.
Teel came out to pitch for Rochester for the third consecutive inning and earned three outs to secure the Red Wings’ second win of the year. The left-hander earned the fourth save of his career.
Toledo broke the scoring open in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out, Ryan Lavarnway worked a five-pitch walk, giving the Mud Hens a base runner. One passed ball later and Toledo was in business with Lavarnway now in scoring position. Andrew Stevenson failed to corral a hard-hit line drive off of the bat of Lopez, and that was all Toledo needed to take an early one-run lead over the Wings. The Mud Hens were not done yet though. With two outs and Lopez on second base, Clemens homered over the right-field wall, expanding Toledo’s lead over Rochester to three runs.
Facing a 3-1 count with two outs in the top of the 6th, Garcia launched a letter-high fastball to dead center field, carrying over the fence to cut the Toledo lead to two runs. The Wings failed to build off of the solo shot in the coming innings, but the Rochester bullpen kept the club within striking distance, with the club ultimately rallying in the 9th.
Washington’s top prospect Cade Cavalli started on the bump for the Wings. The right-hander pitched 4.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits. In his final inning on the mound, Toledo put runners on first and second with no outs after back-to-back singles from Daz Cameron and Josh Lester. Cavalli worked out of the jam, getting Jacob Robinson to pop-out, and then getting Lavarnway to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Erasmo Ramirez took over on the mound for Cavalli in the bottom of the 5th and pitched 2.0 scoreless innings of relief for Rochester, striking out five Toledo batters. Red Wings’ pitchers ended the game with 13 combined strikeouts.
The Red Wings (2-1) and Mud Hens (1-2) go right back at it tomorrow evening in Toledo. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. Luis Reyes is expected to start on the mound for Rochester.