Late rally falls short, Wings drop finale to Indians
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The Rochester Red Wings scored two runs in the ninth inning but left the tying run on third base and fell to the Indianapolis Indians 6-5 Thursday afternoon at Victory Field.
The Wings (15-11) lost just their second series of the season in the process. Rochester has not won a set in Indianapolis since 2005.
Taylor Rogers (2-1) was in a hole early as he walked the leadoff hitter Gorkys Hernandez who then stole second. He advanced to third and later scored on back-to-back ground ball outs to give the Indians (17-11) a 1-0 lead.
Three consecutive hits began the third inning, the last a two-run double by Elias Diaz, giving the Indians a 3-0 lead. Diaz would score on a wild pitch two batters later to extend the advantage to 4-0. Rogers had thrown one wild pitch in five starts all season before tossing three today. He had four wild pitches in 24 starts for Double-A New Britain last season.
Indians starter Adrian Sampson (2-3) had allowed just two base runners over the first three innings but the Red Wings got to the reigning International League Pitcher of the Week in the fourth. Reynaldo Rodriguez and Josmil Pinto started the frame with solid singles to put runners on the corners. Danny Ortiz then hit a drive to the right field corner that was caught on a terrific play by Andy Vasquez. The play went down as a sacrifice fly with Pinto tagging from first base to put the Wings on the board. Pinto advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jose Martinez's two-out single to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Martinez has now hit safely in 12 straight games, the longest active streak in the IL.
Rochester chipped away in the fifth as Aaron Hicks reached with an infield single to lead off the inning and scored on a two-out double by Pinto. Back-to-back singles in the bottom half chased Rogers who lasted just 4.0+ innings, his shortest start since August 9 of last season. Logan Darnell entered from the bullpen and limited the damage to a single run on a sacrifice fly by Tony Sanchez and Indianapolis led 5-3.
Darnell was sharp, surrendering just one base hit with one strikeout in 2.0 shutout innings.
The Indians added what turned out to be a huge run in the bottom of the eighth against Wings reliever Caleb Thielbar. Mel Rojas, Jr. singled with no outs and advanced to third on back-to-back groundouts. Gustavo Nunez then burned Rochester for the second straight day with a push bunt single to second base that plated a run. Nunez had three hits in the series, all bunt singles.
Hicks drew a one-out walk in the ninth and advanced to second on defensive indifference with two outs. He scored on a Rodriguez double. Pinto followed with a two-out walk in a nine-pitch at-bat and went to third as Ortiz dropped a single to center bringing Rochester within a run at 6-5. Brock Peterson flied to left for the final out against John Holdzkom, who earned his second save despite allowing two runs.
The Red Wings outhit the Tribe 12-10 as both teams left 10 men on base in the game. James Beresford tallied two of those hits to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Next up: LHP Tommy Milone (NR) makes his season debut and second career start for Rochester as the Wings open a three-game series at Louisville on Friday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Raisel Iglesias starts for the Bats.
Next Home Game: Mon. May 11 vs. Toledo at 7:05 p.m.
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