By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester ends the IronPigs’ 12-game win streak with a come-from-behind 10-8 victory.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As was the case on Wednesday, the wind was blowing out to left field at Frontier Field on Thursday afternoon with the result of another high-scoring game between the Rochester Red Wings and the International League’s top team, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
“Resilience comes to mind,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade of the 10-8 victory with a smile.
A crowd of 3,667 on Businessman’s Special saw the visitors from Allentown, PA., race out to a 7-1 advantage with a 7-run second inning against starter Jason Wheeler.
“It was a long second inning…but you’ve got to battle through,” Wheeler said. “The last thing I want to do is to get pulled early.”
Daniel Palka had give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with a homer over the right field fence in the first inning.
However, Wheeler ran into trouble as he yielded 6 hits, including a solo home run by Dylan Cozens to start the rally and a grand slam by Rhys Hoskins to complete the scoring.
Wheeler settled down after that as he scattered two hits in pitching five innings. He walked two and struck out six to help out the depleted bullpen while throwing 101 pitches, 41 coming in the second frame.
“You have days when you’re very short of pitching, and that was today,” Quade said. “Wheels had a tough second and was still able to give us five. You have no idea how huge that was.”
After blowing leads in the two previous games, the Red Wings turned the table on the IronPigs as the hosts plated six runs in the fourth to even the contest at 7-7. Rochester combined four hits, two hit batsmen, an error, and a walk into the six markers.
Matt Hague started the uprising with a home run to lead off. Engelb Vielma drove in one run as Zack Granite was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Mitch Garver knotted the count with a 2-run single.
Rochester grabbed the lead for good with 3 runs in the fifth. A sacrifice fly was dropped on J.B. Shuck’s fly ball to put the Wings in front, and Granite followed with a 2-run single for insurance. That proved to be the game-winning hit.
Buddy Boshers threw three shutout innings and Trevor Hildenberger pitched the ninth. A walk and single put the tying runs on base with one out, but a fly out and strikeout ended the game.
*NOTES – Zack Granite extended his hitting streak to 7 games with his fifth inning single…RHP Drew Rucinski joined the Minnesota Twins for their day/night doubleheader on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies…Engelb Vielma drove in his first Triple-A RBI in the Red Wings’ 6-run fourth inning…Rochester’s comeback was the largest deficit the Wings have overcome this season to win a game. Twice they overcame 2-run deficits to pull out a victory.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Jason Wheeler interview – https://youtu.be/bp4QgueWLPM
Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/_90wX_igcAY