Baker Sends Fans Home Happy In Final Home Game

The Rochester Red Wings wrapped up their 2023 home schedule with a walk-off win in 13-innings, 8-7, after LF Darren Baker *drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly. This marked the Wings’ longest game since they played 14-innings on 4/2/2018 at Gwinnett, and longest at home since they played 16-innings against Lehigh Valley on 7/5/2014. Five Wings batters posted a multi-hit performance in the game, highlighted by a four-hit performance from 1B *Frankie Tostado as both teams combined to log 27 hits.

DH Kody Clemens jumped on the second pitch of the game and drove it over the center field fence to give the IronPigs a 1-0 lead. This was Clemens’ eighth home run against Wings pitching this season, tied with teammate Darick Hall (2022) for the most home runs hit against Rochester pitching in a single season since at least 2005.

Rochester put runners on first and second to lead off the bottom half of the first on back-to-back singles from LF Darren Baker *and CF *Derek Hill. With two outs, Frankie Tostado looped a single over the left side to score Baker and tie the game at one. Lehigh Valley retook the lead right away in the second with their second solo homer in as many innings, this time off the bat of C Aramis Garcia to make the score 2-1.

SS Weston Wilson singled with one out in the third and promptly stole his 30th base of the season to put himself in scoring position. 1B Darick Hall singled down the left field line to score Wilson and give Lehigh Valley a 3-1 lead. A walk to RF Matt Kroon put Hall into scoring position, and he came around to score on an RBI single from Garcia to give the IronPigs a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the third, RF Blake Rutherford doubled down the right field line, and moved to third on a single from DH Jake Noll. Tostado picked up his second RBI of the day on a single through the right side that scored Rutherford and cut the deficit down to 4-2.

Rochester continued the trend in the fourth, putting runners on first and second via a walk to Darren Baker and Derek Hill’s second single of the game. Rutherford cleared the bases a batter later with his second double of the afternoon, tying the game at 4-4. Jake Noll capped off the three-run inning with an RBI single to give the Wings a 5-4 lead.

After a walk to Weston Wilson in the top of the fifth, Darick Hall doubled to put runners on second and third with no one out. LF Simon Muzziotti laid down a safety squeeze the next-at-bat, reaching base on a single while scoring Wilson to re-tie the game. Aramis Garcia gave Lehigh Valley the lead back for the second time today, logging a sacrifice fly that scored Hall to make the score 6-5.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the eighth when 2B *Jordy Barley *logged a single, stole second base, and came around to score on a throwing error to tie the game. Darick Hall led off the top of the ninth with a solo home run to retake the lead for Lehigh Valley headed to the bottom half.

Blake Rutherford led off the Wings final turn at the plate with a walk, and Jake Noll singled to put runners on first and second with no one out. After a ground out from Tostado moved both runners up a base, C *Brady Lindsly *tied the game at 7-7 with a sacrifice fly. Both teams headed to extras for the second-straight night.

Both teams failed to score in the 10th, and 11th, 12th until Jordy Barley laid down a bunt in the 13th to move extra-inning runner *Richie Martin *to third base. Martin came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Darren Baker to give the Wings an 8-7 walk-off win. This marked their 10th walk-off win of the season, and eighth win in extra innings.

RHP Daniel Mengden *made the spot-start for Rochester Sunday afternoon, allowing four earned on six hits through 2.2 innings of work. LHP delivered 2.1 innings in relief of Mengden, giving up two earned on two hits while striking out three. LHP *Lucas Knowles *tossed the following 2.0 innings, holding Lehigh Valley off the scoreboard on two hits. RHP *Junior Fernandez *followed with 2.0 innings of his own surrendering one earned on one hit. RHP *Luis Reyes pitched a perfect 2.2 innings, and LHP *Tim Cate *covered the final 1.1 innings without allowing a run.

Diamond Pro Player of the Game honors for the final home game of the season goes to 1B Frankie Tostado. The lefty finished the game 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a walk, and is hitting .565 (13-for-23) over the course of his six-game hitting streak.

Rochester takes Monday off, and heads south to Indianapolis for their final series of the year beginning Tuesday. LHP *Mitchell Parker *is scheduled to make his second career Triple-A start for the Wings. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

Find the box score attached here.