A day after their 11th postponement or cancellation of the season, the Rochester Red Wings were back in action for a seven-inning doubleheader Saturday night. CF Andrew Pinckney tied game one in the top of the seventh, launching a three-run shot with two outs down to his final strike, and RF Nick Schnell padded the lead with a bases-loaded triple in extra-innings to ensure a 7-4 victory. Playing as the Plates and Salt Potatoes in the back half of the twin bill for the first Duel of the Dishes in 2025, Syracuse jumped out in front with a five-run first inning and seven-run second on their way to a 14-3 win to split the doubleheader.

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Game 1:

Syracuse struck first on a solo shot in the bottom of the second with two outs off the bat of C Hayden Senger, his second home run of the season. LHP Andrew Alavarez then got LF Donovan Walton to fly out to right field, as part of retiring six of the first seven Mets hitters.

The Mets tacked on to their lead in the bottom half of the third, again doing damage with two outs, when RF Drew Gilbert drew a walk. After he advanced to second on a passed ball, CF Gilberto Celestino then continued his hot streak with an infield single to third. 3B Ronny Mauricio drove in the first run of the inning with a single up the middle, scoring Gilbert and pushing Celestino to third. DH Joey Meneses followed with his international-league leading 18th double of the season to score Celestino and push the lead to three.

The score remained the same as the Red Wings came to bat looking to rally in the seventh. Back-to-back infield singles with one out kicked things off, first by 3B Yohandy Morales for his first Triple A hit, and followed by C Drew Millas’ first hit of the day. With two outs and down to his final strike, CF Andrew Pinckney notched one of his biggest hits in a Red Wings uniform, blasting a three run homer to left field tying this game at 3-3.

Heading to extra innings, 2B Darren Baker began as the designated runner at second and scored on a double down the left field line by 1B Andrés Chaparro, his first hit as a Red Wing this season as part of his rehab assignment. After a strikeout, Yohandy Morales was intentionally walked, and Drew Millas drew a free pass of his own to load the bases. RF Nick Schnell kept things going in his first game with the Wings, lacing a triple down the right field line that cleared the bases, his seventh three-bagger of the season to pull him even for the MiLB lead. A strikeout ended the inning, but not before Rochester ballooned the lead to 7-3.

RHP Eduardo Salazar came on in the bottom half to slam the door shut, starting with a runner on second. Salazar induced a ground out that moved the runner to third for the first out of the inning, before Drew Gilbert drove a sacrifice fly out to right to cut the lead to three. A nice play by Jackson Cluff on a slow hit ground ball turned this one final, the Red Wings coming back to take it by a score of 7-4.

Southpaw Andrew Alvarez got the start in the first game of today’s doubleheader, and threw 6.0 innings of three-run ball, giving up three earned runs on five hits, while striking out three and walking a batter. The Rochester bullpen was dominant in Game one, with RHP Carlos Romero chipping in 1.0 inning of work and picking up his second win of the season. Eduardo Salazar closed this one out, retiring three batters in a row and lowering his ERA to 1.23.

CF Andrew Pinckney is Saturday afternoon’s Player of the Game for the Red Wings. The former walk-on at Alabama blasted a huge three-run home run with the Wings backs against the wall in the top of the seventh. This was Pinckney’s fifth home run of the season, and gives him 14 RBI on the campaign. Pinckney now leads the team and is one of 17 players in the IL with three homers with runners in scoring position.

Find the box score for game one attached here.

Game 2:

Once again in game two it was Syracuse striking first, with RF Gilberto Celestino crushing a double into left field in the top of the first. An error turned this one into a little league home run, allowing Celestino to come all the way around and score. The next two batters followed suit in the home run department, DH Jon Singleton sent one out to right center while collecting his 1,000th minor league hit. Former Red Wing 1B Joey Meneses then joined the fray, launching a homer out to left for his fourth of the season, and just like that the Salt Potatoes took a 3-0 advantage. 3B Donovan Walton managed a walk after a mound visit. The damage wasn’t done, with 2B Luis De Los Santos hitting his seventh double of the season, making it second and third before LF Luke Ritter knocked in two more with a grounder through the left side of the infield. Ritter was out stretching for second and the inning ended on a strikeout, with the Salt Potatoes up by five runs.

Syracuse went right back to work in the bottom of the second, starting with a leadoff single by SS Yonny Hernández. CF Drew Gilbert then reached on an error, moving Hernández all the way to third on the play. A couple pitches later, a passed ball plated Hernández and Gilbert moved up to second. RF Gilberto Celestino poked a base hit to right field, and the third error of the game by the Plates allowed Gilbert to score and Celestino went to second. Two more baserunners joined the action after Jon Singleton and Joey Meneses worked walks to follow up their first inning home runs. Donovan Walton kept a hot bat going, pushing a two-RBI double into right, and leaving runners on second and third. The hitting did not stop with Luis De Los Santos, as he sprinkled in his second double of the game, netting two RBI of his own. Luke Ritter then reached on an erro, bringing De Los Santos around to score. C Jackson Reetz managed a broken bat single to left, allowing the Salt Potatoes to bat around with still no outs. Yonny Hernández was back up for the second time this inning and served in a single to load the bases. RHP Jack Sinclair struck out the next two batters, and then induced a flyout to end the inning. Syracuse left its mark, going up 12-0 after two innings of play.

Syracuse got on the board for a third-straight inning, led off by yet another double from 1B Joey Meneses. Two batters later, LF Luke Ritter tallied the sixth Salt Potato double of the game to score Meneses, pushing the lead to thirteen runs.

The Salt Potatoes weren’t done quite yet, getting back in the scoring column in the fifth. Joey Meneses hit his second double of the game and fourth extra-base hit across both games to put traffic on the bases. Donovan Walton reached on another error, and then a wild pitch moved each runner up 90 feet. A fielder's choice to shortstop by Luis De Los Santos scored Meneses, giving Syracuse a 14-run lead.

The Plates finally got on the board in the top of the sixth inning, and it was 3B Brady House starting it out with a leadoff double for his second hit of the game. After a lineout and a flyout, 1B Yohandy Morales legged out an infield single to shortstop to put runners on the corners. CF Andrew Pinckney belted a line drive to center field that took a hop past the defense and rolled all the way to the wall, and this time it was the Plates getting involved in the little league home run, as all three runners scored to put a dent into the Syracuse lead, 14-3.

Rochester came to bat in the seventh still down a handful of runs. 2B J.T. Arruda laced a double, but was stranded at second as the Plates fell by 11 runs.

RHP Seth Shuman got the start coming in the back half of the twin bill, and allowed eight runs, seven of them earned, on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout across 1.0 full inning. Jack Sinclair followed suit, pitching 1.0 inning and allowing four runs on four hits to go with two walks and two strikeouts. RHP Todd Peterson gave the Rochester Plates 2.0 innings of his own in what was his Triple-A debut, surrendering a run on two hits, to go along with two strikeouts as well. RHP Marquis Grissom Jr. and RHP Clay Helvey pitched the fifth and sixth innings respectively. Grissom Jr. allowed an unearned run on one hit with a pair of strikeouts and a walk, while Helvey held the Salt Potato bats hitless with a strikeout in the sixth.

3B Brady House is Saturday night’s Player of the Game for the Rochester Plates. The young prospect went 2-for-4 with a double and a single, while adding a run scored. The pair of hits brings his total to 50 in 2025, most on the team and tied for sixth-most in the International League. Game one also marked the 2021 first-round pick’s 50th game as a Red Wing, and 325th in professional baseball.

Rochester looks to pick up their first series win in the finale Sunday night, currently leading three games to two. For the second time this week, RHP Adrian Sampson will get the start for Rochester, and RHP Brandon Sproat is on the mound for Syracuse. First pitch will be at 6:35 p.m.

Find the box score for game two attached here.

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