Red Wings Walk Off Twice In Doubleheader Against Indians
The Rochester Red Wings swept both games of the doubleheader against Indianapolis Thursday afternoon. RF Alex Call launched a walk-off home run to win game one for Rochester, 4-3, his second game-winner of the season. 3B Carter Kieboom lined a single to right field to end Rochester’s heroic come-from-behind win
The Rochester Red Wings swept both games of the doubleheader against Indianapolis Thursday afternoon. RF Alex Call launched a walk-off home run to win game one for Rochester, 4-3, his second game-winner of the season. 3B Carter Kieboom lined a single to right field to end Rochester’s heroic come-from-behind win in game two, 5-4.
GAME ONE:
The Rochester bats started in the bottom of the second when DH Travis Blankenhorn drilled a grounder past the second baseman and into center field for a leadoff single. 1B Juan Yepez followed up with another scorcher down the third base line for a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. 3B Trey Lipscomb capitalized on the opportunity, lacing a ball to right center to score Blankenhorn while moving Yepez to third and put the Red Wings up 1-0. With only one down, RF Alex Call drove a ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Yepez and doubling the lead to two runs.
Both sides traded zeroes heading into the final frame. Indianapolis led off the away half of the second with a single from former Red Wing DH Josh Palacios. With one man on base, 2B Liover Peguero took a four-seamer over the wall in left-center for a two-run homer to tie the contest at 2-2. Rochester was unable to cross the plate in the bottom of the seventh, sending game one into extra innings.
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To kick off the eighth, Indianapolis advanced the automatic runner to third via a sacrifice bunt from CF Ji-Hwan Bae. With 3B Andrés Alvarez on third, SS Alika Williams singled to center field to score the run to give the Indians their first lead. Rochester was able to escape the inning with no further damage, keeping the game tied.
After a SS Jackson Cluff sacrifice bunt to lead off the home half of the eighth, moving automatic runner Trey Lipscomb to third. This set the stage for Alex Call in the bottom of the eighth, who smacked his ninth home run for a two-run shot to win the game for Rochester in walk-off fashion, 4-3.
LHP Andrew Alvarez made his fourth start for the Red Wings in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader. The former Cal Poly Mustang tossed 5.0 innings, preventing any runs on three hits while striking out and walking two. RHP Adonis Medina came on for relief in the sixth and pitched 1.0 clean inning and gave up one hit against the three batters he faced. RHP Rico Garcia entered the game in the top of the seventh for Rochester. The former Colorado Rockies draft pick allowed three earned runs on four hits while striking one out in his 1.2 innings. LHP Tim Cate came on with two outs in the seventh and threw two pitches to record the final out of the frame.
The Diamond Pro Player of the game in game one of Thursday’s twin action goes to RF Alex Call. The Rochester outfielder logged his second walk-off of the year, a two-run shot to cap off a 1-for-1 day while adding another RBI on a sacrifice fly. The homer was his ninth of the season, pulling him even with Juan Yepez for third-most on the team.
Find the box score for game one attached here.
GAME TWO:
Indianapolis jumped out to an early lead at the top of the first in game two, led off when 2B Alika Williams worked a walk and advanced to second base from a single off the bat of SS Liover Peguero. Three batters later, DH Seth Beer laced a double to right field to score Williams and gave the Indians an early 1-0 lead.
Three straight walks drawn by Indianapolis kicked off the top of the third inning, leaving the bases loaded with no outs for 1B Malcolm Nuñez. The Cuba native dribbled a ground ball to third base, which resulted in a force out at home plate to keep the bases loaded with one out. Liover Peguero crossed the plate via a Seth Beer sacrifice fly to right field to increase the Indians’ lead to 2-0.
Indianapolis continued to extend their lead in the top of the sixth inning when CF Gilberto Celestino roped a double to right field followed by a walk from C Grant Koch. 3B Mike Jarvis grounded a ball up the middle that allowed Celestino to score, increasing the lead to three runs. Koch was then thrown out at the plate on a ground ball to third from Alika Williams, and Peguero brought Jarvis around to score on a ground-rule double to give Indianapolis a four-run advantage.
Rochester began to cut into the four-run deficit in the bottom of the sixth, led off by back-to-back singles from CF Darren Baker and 3B Carter Kieboom. Baker was able to come around to score on a ground ball off the bat of RF Travis Blankenhorn, making the score 4-1 going into the seventh inning.
Two walks and a hit by a pitch loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning for the Red Wings. DH Dylan Crews crushed a double to center field to score two runs and cut the lead to one run. 2B Erick Mejia was able to score and tied the game at four runs when Darren Baker reached on a fielding error. With runners on corners, Carter Kieboom hit a walk-off single to end the contest, 5-4.
RHP Thaddeus Ward took the mound first for the Red Wings, marking his fifteenth start of the season. The Fort Myers native worked 4.0 innings and allowed two earned on three hits, walking six and striking out five before handing the ball to RHP Orlando Ribalta. The Cuba native turned in a hitless inning with one strikeout before RHP Luis Reyes entered in relief in the sixth. The right-hander allowed two earned runs on three hits while walking one across 2.0 innings to close out the contest for the Red Wings defense.
The Diamond Pro Player of the Game for the second matchup of the day goes to 3B Carter Kieboom. The former first-round draft pick reached base four times in the back half of the twin bill via a trio of singles, including a walk-off winner in the seventh and a hit-by-pitch in the fourth. This marked his first three-hit game since September 4, 2021, against the New York Mets, with Washington.
Rochester looks to extend their win streak to six games on Friday night. RHP Spenser Watkins is set to take the mound first for the Red Wings, squaring off against the Indians’ RHP Luis Cessa. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m.
Find the box score for game two attached here.
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