Plates Complete Clean Sweep of Scranton/WB

The Rochester Plates swept their doubleheader against the Scranton/WB RailRiders Thursday afternoon, winning game one, 6-3, and game two, 8-7. It marked the first time since May, 2022 that Rochester won both legs of a twin bill, which, coincidentally, also came against Scranton/WB. Both RHP Wily Peralta and RHP Paolo Espino tossed five innings of two-run baseball as starters in the doubleheader, and the Plates recorded their fifth walkoff win in the second game of the twin bill.

Game One

It took six Rochester batters before an out was recorded in the bottom of the first inning, as the Plates struck first and tacked on three runs. A hit by pitch and two- straight singles setup 3B Carter Kieboom, who drove in Rochester’s first run with an RBI single. Scranton/WB’s RHP Randy Vásquez then walked in a run when he relinquished a free base to DH Matt Adams, and 1B Travis Blankenhorn tacked on a final run with a sacrifice fly that plated CF Victor Robles.

Scranton/WB broke through RHP Wily Peralta’s perfect first two innings, tagging the Rochester pitcher with two runs in the top of the third inning. An RBI double and RBI single from the RailRiders trimmed the Plates lead to 3-2, but it would only stay that way until LF Jake Noll came to the plate in the bottom of the third inning. In his fifth game since coming off the Injured List, Noll rocketed his first home run since 8/11/22, a 394-foot two-run shot that brought in Kieboom to give Rochester a 5-2 lead.

The Plates added another run in the third, extending the lead to 6-2, when RF Derek Hill blooped an RBI single into right field to score Blankenhorn. Scranton/WB added a run back in the top of the sixth inning courtesy of a solo home run from DH Franchy Cordero, cutting the score to 6-3. Rochester was able to shut the door after the homer, and take the first two games of the series.

RHP Wily Peralta (2-4, 5.30) started the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader for the Plates and went five innings allowing just two runs on six hits while striking out five batters. RHP Andres Machado and RHP Tyler Danish, who earned his fifth save of the season, worked the final two innings, allowing just one run while striking out a batter. Peralta earned his first win since 5/27 at TOL, while RHP Randy Vásquez was tagged with the loss for Scranton.

LF Jake Noll is the Diamond Pro Player of the Game for game one of the twin bill. The Florida native went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and a walk in the win. Noll followed up his 4-for-4 day off the bench with his first long ball of the season and notched his third and fourth RBI in the last two games. Since Rochester became affiliated with the Washington Nationals, Noll leads the team in hits (232), home runs (28), doubles (54), RBI (124), and total bases (383).

Find the box score for game one attached here.

Game Two

Scranton/WB scored first in the second half of the twin bill, jumping out to a 1-0 lead when RF Elijah Dunham knocked a solo home run in the top of the first inning. They added another run in the top of the third inning when CF Estevan Florial drove in SS Jesús Bastidas on a sacrifice fly to center field that gave the RailRiders a 2-0 lead. Despite RHP Paolo Espino holding Scranton/WB close, allowing just two hits through the first three innings, the Plates struggled at the plate until the bottom of the third inning.

3B Carter Kieboom broke up the no-hitter with a single to left-center field, putting him in position for 1B Matt Adams to drive him in during the next at-bat with an RBI double off the right field wall. Then, LF Travis Blankenhorn gave the Plates their first lead of the game with a 428-foot home run, his team-leading 10th long ball of the season, that gave Rochester a 3-2 lead. The two-run blast marked the second in as many games for the Plates, and was the fifth-longest homer by a Plates batter this year.

Rochester tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, extending their lead to 6-2. The first run came courtesy of an RBI single from 2B Jake Alu *that drove in SS *Jordy Barley. Kieboom followed his hit up in the next at bat with a two-run single through the middle that extended the Plates lead to 6-2. Florial added another run in the top of the sixth inning off of a solo home run, and a sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 6-4.

Scranton retook the lead in the top of the seventh inning, notching three runs off of a home run from Florial, his second of the afternoon. The Plates collected two singles from Alu and Adams, setting up DH Franmil Reyes to win the game on a walkoff double. His line drive down the left field line allowed Alu and PR Jake Noll to come around and score, giving Rochester a 8-7 win.

RHP Paolo Espino started the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader, allowing two runs on two hits, walking one batter and striking out three through five innings. LHP Sean Doolittle came in first to relieve Espino in his first appearance with Rochester, tossing an inning of relief, allowing two runs and striking out a batter. LHP Jose Ferrer (3-3, 4.50) gave up three runs in his inning of relief and earned the win in the second game of the doubleheader.

LF Travis Blankenhorn is the Diamond Pro Player of the Game for the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader, following up a 1-for-3 performance in game one with a two-run home run that gave the Plates the lead. The long ball was Blankenhorn’s 10th of the season, and he drove in runs 35 and 36 on the year.

Rochester will look to seal a series win on Friday in the fourth game of their six-game series against Scranton. Rochester’s RHP* Jose Ureña* is scheduled to oppose RHP Will Warren for the RailRiders in the Friday night matchup. First Pitch Tuesday is set for 6:45 p.m.

Find the box score attached here.