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Phil Ervin’s 10th inning home run boosted the Louisville Bats to a 2-1 win over the Rochester Red Wings Friday night at Frontier Field. The team meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:35 p.m.
Adalberto Mejia got his first start of the season for the Red Wings, after beginning the season with Minnesota. The lefty cruised through the Bats’ lineup, retiring all nine batters including four strikeouts. Mejia ended up retiring the first ten batters he faced before giving up a single to Dilson Herrera. With two outs, Herrera rounded third off of a single by Tony Renda but Wings left fielder Ehire Adrianza threw out Herrara at home plate to end the third inning.
Louisville starter Asher Wojciechowski set down the first eight batters he faced. Thursday’s hero, Bengie Gonzalez, got the first hit of the night for the Wings by just missing a home run. He settled for a stand-up triple. Adrianza was unable to drive in Gonzalez, taking a called third strike to end the inning.
Wojciechowski finished with an impressive 5.2 innings pitched, one hit, no runs, one walk and seven strike outs. He threw 78 pitches (50 strikes).
In seven innings on the mound, Mejia allowed just two hits with no walks, along with six strikeouts. He threw 85 pitches, 60 for strikes. Raul Fernandez took the mound for the Wings to start the eighth inning.
The Bats put two runners on in the eighth. After Phil Ervin led off with a single, Seth Mejias-Brean attempted a bunt that was initially signaled fair by the home plate umpire, and catcher Mitch Garver snagged the ball and started a double play. After being argued by Louisville, the umpires conferred – replays appeared to show the bunt was foul, but the umpires ruled a hit batter. That prompted an argument from Wings manager Mike Quade, who was ejected from the game. Another bunt loaded the bases, and a groundball double play allowed a run to score for a 1-0 Bats lead.
Another odd sequence followed in the bottom of the eighth. A one-out flyball to left fielder Ervin was misplayed, resulting in a base hit for Niko Goodrum. Gonzalez hit a chopper to the right side, and was called safe at first despite the throw beating Gonzalez – but first baseman Brandon Dixon’s foot wasn’t on first base, and the Wings had a scoring chance. An automatic strike was called on Adrianza for not being ready in the batter’s box, a call that Adrianza disputed. But he kept his cool, and looped a single to bring in Goodrum and tie the game 1-1. When J.B. Shuck worked a walk, the Wings had a bases loaded opportunity with just one out. Kyle McMyne struck out Matt Hague , and a flyout from Daniel Palka ended the inning.
Bats closer Kevin Shackelford walked Garver to start the bottom of the ninth, and Garver was replaced by pinch-runner Quintin Berry . Leonardo Reginatto moved Berry to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Ben Paulsen was walked intentionally. Goodrum flied out and Berry moved to third base, and Gonzalez drew a walk to load the bases but Shackelford struck out Adrianza and the game went into extra innings.
Trevor Hildenberger took over on the mound in the top of the 10th inning, and yielded a home run to Ervin that landed just over the wall in left field. But the Wings came right back in their half of the 10th, when Shuck singled and Hague drew a walk to put two runners on with none out. Palka flew out to right field, and a wild pitch with John Ryan Murphy at bat moved runners up to second and third. But Murphy struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch, and Shackelford got a groundout to end the game.
