STAFF REPORTS
Dylan Cozens hit a solo home run off Alex Wimmers leading off the bottom of the 11th inning and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs beat the Rochester Red Wings 2-1 Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park, sweeping the three-game series.
Cozens, who led all minor leaguers with 40 home runs last season with Double-A Reading, hit a 3-1 pitch from Wimmers (1-2) for his sixth homer of 2017. The three-game skid is the longest of the season for the Red Wings (14-14) who were swept for the first time since June 24-26, 2016 vs. Louisville and for the first time in a three-game set in Allentown since the IronPigs (19-13) were founded in 2008.
Rochester struck first in the 2nd inning as Daniel Palka blooped a double that landed on the chalk leading off the frame. Ben Paulsen drove him in with a two-out single to give the Wings their first lead of the series at 1-0 against IronPigs starter Aaron Nola.
Nola was making a rehab appearance from Philadelphia after he was placed on the disabled list with a lower back strain on April 21. The Red Wings had runners on base against him in three of Nola’s four innings but only capitalized once. He allowed a run on four hits with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings while working with a 60-pitch limit.
David Hurlbut worked three scoreless innings before Lehigh Valley tied the game in the 4th. Cozens doubled to open the inning and Taylor Featherston drove him in with a two-out double to make it 1-1.
Hurlbut and the Wings ran into trouble in the 7th as Cam Perkins and Featherston opened the frame with singles to put runners at first and second base. Trevor Hildenberger entered for Hurlbut and Jesmuel Valentin tried to sacrifice bunt but Mitch Garver alertly barehanded the ball, fired to third baseman Matt Hauge who threw to first base to completely the unorthodox 5-2-3 double play. A strikeout ended the threat.
Hurlbut fired 6.0+ innings while allowing seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Rochester wasted its own opportunity in the 9th as Tommy Field opened with a double and moved to third on a Hague groundout. ByungHo Park then hit a sharp grounder to a drawn-in Hector Gomez at third base who dove towards the line and fired to first to retire Park and keep Field 90 feet away. Back-to-back walks to Palka and Garver loaded the bases with two outs but Niko Goodrum grounded to second.
The Wings went in order in both the 10th and 11th, the last frame coming against Michael Mariot (1-1) before Cozens ended the game with a homer.
Palka reached base three times in the loss, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
