Indians Walked Off Twice by Red Wings in Doubleheader Sweep

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Despite a home run by Liover Peguero and third consecutive strong start by Jake Woodford, the Indianapolis Indians dropped both games of an afternoon doubleheader against the Rochester Red Wings in walk-off fashion at Innovative Field on Thursday, 4-3 and 5-4.

After tying the first contest on a two-run shot by Peguero in the seventh inning and scoreless bottom half that sent the game to extras, Indianapolis (0-3, 33-43) grabbed a brief 3-2 lead in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Alika Williams. Rochester (3-0, 41-35) countered in the home half against Brent Honeywell (L, 1-3), with Alex Call sending his ninth home run of the season into the Indians’ bullpen beyond the left field wall for a two-run, walk-off blast.

The Red Wings tallied the first runs of the twin bill in the second inning. Travis Blankenhorn and Juan Yepez led off the inning with a single and double, respectively, and Trey Lipscomb followed with an RBI single to plate Blankenhorn. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Call then brought Yepez home to end the inning.

The Indians had no answer against Andrew Alvarez and Adonis Medina through the first six innings before striking for three runs (two earned) against Rico Garcia. Tim Cate (W, 4-1) entered to log the Indians’ final out before the Red Wings walked it off.

In the second affair, Rochester scored the game’s last five runs in the final two innings – four in the bottom of the seventh – to secure the doubleheader sweep. Following a walk, hit by pitch and walk that loaded the bases with one out, Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft behind former Indian Paul Skenes, hit a line drive up the middle that kicked off the glove of Williams at second base into shallow left-center for a two-run double. Darren Baker, who singled and scored the Red Wings’ first run in the sixth, then plated Erick Mejia as the tying run while reaching safely on a missed catch error by Malcom Nuñez at first base. Carter Kieboom completed the trifecta of close calls for the Indians defensively, flaring a fly ball to right field that Joshua Palacios dropped on a sliding attempt, allowing Crews to jog home as the winning run.

Indianapolis got on the board early and rode the arm of Woodford to build a 4-0 lead. Williams worked a leadoff walk and Seth Beer smacked a two-out double to make it 1-0. After Thaddeus Ward walked Williams, Palacios and Peguero in the third inning, a sac fly courtesy of Beer scored Peguero.

The Indians tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Gilberto Celestino doubled off Luis Reyes (W, 2-1) and later scored on a Mike Jarvis fielder’s choice. A ground-rule double by Peguero added another run to cap the scoring.

Connor Sadzeck (L, 2-1) faced seven batters in the decisive seventh and recorded just one out. Woodford dazzled on the mound, throwing 5.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He yielded just three hits, beaned one batter and struck out eight.

Indianapolis and Rochester will meet for game four of the six-game set tomorrow at 6:45 PM. RHP Luis Cessa (2-2, 3.99) gets the nod for the Indians and RHP Spenser Watkins (4-3, 4.38) will counter for the Red Wings.