Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Battle Tested: RailRiders outlast Red Wings in 12 

SWB beats Rochester 8-6 on the strength of 22 strikeouts and key battle victories
Leonardo Pestana earned the win with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief Wednesday. (Tim Dougherty)
July 23, 2025

ROCHESTER, NY (July 23, 2025) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders outlasted the Rochester Red Wings 8-6 in 12 innings on Wednesday night at Innovative Field. The RailRiders built an early lead, were forced to battle back and took command in the extras, all keyed by a franchise-record tying 22 strikeouts by

ROCHESTER, NY (July 23, 2025) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders outlasted the Rochester Red Wings 8-6 in 12 innings on Wednesday night at Innovative Field. The RailRiders built an early lead, were forced to battle back and took command in the extras, all keyed by a franchise-record tying 22 strikeouts by the pitching staff.

Box Score

The RailRiders opened the game with an eight-batter first inning. After a leadoff single by Jesus Rodriguez, Everson Pereira drilled the first pitch he saw from lefty Andrew Alvarez 374 feet to right for his 19th home run of the year. After Spencer Jones was hit by a pitch and Rafael Flores walked, T.J. Rumfield singled home Jones for a 3-0 lead. A double play ball allowed Flores to score to extend the advantage to 4-0.

Robert Hassell, III led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run against Luis Gil, who is with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on an MLB rehab assignment.

The Red Wings evened the score in the third, keyed by a sac fly from former RailRider Andres Chaparro and a two-run double off the bat of Nick Schnell.

Rochester took the lead in the fourth. Gil was lifted in the middle of an at-bat against Francisco Mejia with a 3-2 count after 67 pitches. Kervin Castro finished the at-bat and walked Mejia. An RBI single from Yohandy Morales plated Mejia for a 5-4 Red Wings lead.

Gil worked 3.1 innings in his third straight rehab start between Somerset and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, surrendering five runs on four hits, four strikeouts and three walks.

The RailRiders tied the game against Joan Adon and the Red Wings' bullpen. Bryan De La Cruz worked a 13-pitch at-bat into a walk. Jose Rojas saw 13 pitches before doubling in De La Cruz to tie the game at five. After Adon walked Andrew Velzquez on four pitches, Eduardo Salazar took over for Rochester. With one away, Jones hit a sac fly to the warning track in right, scoring Rojas for a 6-5 lead.

Rochester tied the game against Clayton Beeter in the bottom of the inning with a pair of two-out walks and a run-scoring single by Andrew Pinckney.

The game remained even into the 12th. Extra-inning runner Nicky Lopez stole third and scored on a wild pitch. After Andrew doubled, Pereira singled up the middle for an 8-6 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Leonardo Pestana struck out the first two batters and was replaced by third-string catcher Edinson Duran after one pitch to Trey Lipscomb. Duran walked Lipscomb, but struck out C.J. Stubbs on three pitches to end the game.

The eight Scranton/Wilkes-Barre arms combined to strike out 22 batters, tying the franchise record. In addition to Gil, Castro struck out four, Beeter retired three, Baron Stuart struck out the only batter he faced, Brent Headrick struck out two over an inning, Eric Reyzelman got four in 1.1 innings, Pestana added three before Duran’s record-matching K.

Pestana (2-3) earned the win while Parker Dunshee (2-5) took the loss.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues its series in Rochester on Thursday morning. Brendan Beck takes the ball for the RailRiders against Bryce Conley and the Red Wings at 11:05 A.M.