By CRAIG POTTER
Lehigh Valley holds off SWB, 4-3, to earn the Wild Card berth, via the tie-breaker.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For the second consecutive season, and first time in International League history, the Rochester Red Wings won their 80th game, and failed to qualify for the International League Governor’s Cup playoffs.
The Wings trounced the Pawtucket Red Sox, 10-1, in the regular season finale on Monday afternoon before 9,336 fans at Frontier Field.
However, down in Allentown, PA., Irondequoit native Cito Culver represented the tying run for North Division champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the top of the ninth inning. The RailRiders had the bases loaded with one out, but could not get Culver home from third and lost 4-3.
With the victory, both Lehigh Valley and Rochester finished with identical 80-62 records. The IronPigs get awarded the Wild Card as they won the season series from the Wings, 13-9. It is Lehigh Valley’s second straight appearance in the playoffs.
“We play 142 games,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade. “How can it come down to the last day? But you can make a case that if we had won two or three days ago, it wouldn’t have come down to this.”
Quade added, “I didn’t sleep much last night. It wasn’t about yesterday’s (Sunday) game. It’s just the nature of a must-win game. If you’re not a little nervous. If you don’t lose a little sleep, if you don’t run that stuff through your mind, you’re not very good at what you do.
“I’m proud of the guys and the way they finished up.”
Rochester has missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. The Wings last made the playoffs in 2013, and again it was on the final day of the regular season as they won and Norfolk lost, which enabled Rochester to gain the Wild Card spot.
The Wings got on the scoreboard in the second inning on back-to-back singles by Daniel Palka and Leonardo Reginatto. A sacrifice fly by J.B. Shuck scored Palka for the run.
“I think we had a good year and we should be proud,” said Reginatto, who was on the team last year as well. “It’s a great season, but we’re playing in a great division.”
The Wings padded their lead in the third when Robbie Grossman, who is on a rehab stint from the Minnesota Twins, blooped a single behind first base that scored Matt Hague.
Pawtucket cut the lead in half in the fourth with a RBI double by Mike Miller off Rochester starting pitcher Adalberto Mejia, who also was on a rehab assignment.
Jonathan Rodriguez, who was recently called-up from Double-A Chattanooga, belted a 2-run homer in the fifth over the left field fence. It was Rodriguez’s first in a Rochester uniform, and expanded the lead to 4-1.
Mejia was relieved in the top of the sixth by Dietrich Enns, another hurler on rehab. Mejia completed 5 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and he struck out 2 hitters.
Hague led off the seventh with a home run to left. Reginatto drove home Levi Michael with an RBI single before J.B. Shuck completed the 5-run uprising with a 3-run home run to deep left field.
Hague connected on his second straight long ball over the left field fence in the eighth to complete the Rochester scoring.
With two hits, Hague finished atop the IL with 149 – the fourth time he has led the league in that category.
“It means you were in a lot of Triple-A baseball games,” a smiling Hague said. “It’s one of those things that I’m definitely happy to do it.”
Hague led the league in hits in 2011 and 2013 as a member of the Indianapolis Indians, and again in 2015 with the Buffalo Bisons where he also was the league’s MVP. No other player has led the IL in hits in more than two separate seasons.
“What a year Matty had,” said Quade. “Maybe not the power numbers the year we saw him at Buffalo when he killed us, and I wasn’t a fan. He’s been the most consistent guy. He’s been healthy all year. He always comes to the ball park ready to play.”
Enns added four solid innings of relief out of the bullpen allowing no runs and scattering 4 hits while striking out 2 batters.
“Part of our deal is to win ball games and put on a good show for the people here in Rochester,” said Quade. “The other part is to contribute and help wherever you can with players at the big-league level. God, I think I’m the only one that didn’t go the big leagues this year. We sent a lot of people there.”
*NOTES – Daniel Palka extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the second inning…With two hits Monday, Matt Hague finished the season leading the league with 149 hits. His two homers were his 9th and 10th of the season… It’s the first time the Red Wings won 80 games in back-to-back seasons since 1974-75…Monday’s paid attendance of 9,336 brought the season total to 445,581…At one point in the season, the Red Wings were 8 games out in the wild card race. They turned it around and held a 4-game lead over Lehigh Valley with 12 games to play, but lost that advantage on Sunday with the loss to Pawtucket, and the IronPigs sweep of SWB…Lehigh Valley will take on SWB in the Best-of-5 semifinals with Durham and Indianapolis in the other semifinals. Chili native Chris Bostick recently was called up by Indianapolis’ parent Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 1 for his second major league appearance this year. His first call-up happened earlier in the season when he debuted with the Pirates versus the LA Dodgers at Dodge Stadium.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – www.redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Matt Hague interview – https://youtu.be/YizdkDTn5tk
Leonardo Reginatto interview – https://youtu.be/VuFbBi3Gha0
Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/GzUnZBBn_Js