STAFF REPORTS
ROCHESTER — The Lehigh Valley IronPigs scored three runs in the 11th inning, defeating the Rochester Red Wings 11-8 Wednesday night at Frontier Field. It was the 12th straight win for the first place IronPigs; the series concludes with a 1:35 p.m. weekday matinee on Thursday.
Roman Quinn started the action early for Lehigh Valley, as he drove the opening pitch of the game off David Hurlbut into right for a triple. J.P. Crawford then drove a single into right, bringing home Quinn and giving the IronPigs an early 1-0 lead.
The Red Wings responded quickly however in the bottom of the first off IronPig pitcher Ricardo Pinto. Zack Granite led off the inning with a single, furthering his hit and on-base streak to six games, followed two batters later by a Matt Hague single. With two runners on and one out, Daniel Palka crushed a double to the wall in right, scoring Granite to tie the score. ByungHo Park continued the scoring for the Red Wings with an RBI single, giving Rochester a 2-1 lead. During the next at bat, Pinto delivered a pickoff attempt to first that got away from Rhys Hoskins, allowing Park to advance to second and Palka to score. J.B. Schuck then delivered an RBI double, giving Rochester a 4-1 lead after the first inning.
In the top of the third, Lehigh Valley started with a Pedro Florimon double, followed by a single by Quinn. Next up was Crawford, who singled and brought in Florimon to cut the Rochester lead, 4-2. Jorge Alfaro popped a sacrifice fly into right, giving Lehigh Valley another run as Quinn scored. Dylan Cozens then earned his IL-leading 31st RBI of the season when he grounded out to first, as Crawford scored to tie the game at four.
Rochester took the lead back in the third, leading off with Hague reaching on an error by Crawford. Two batters later, Park and Leonardo Reginatto hit back-to-back singles, the second scoring Hague to give the Red Wings the lead back, 5-4. Shuck singled, but Park was thrown out by Cozens trying to score. With two runners on and two out, John Ryan Murphy belted his third home run of the season, a three-run shot, into the Lehigh Valley bullpen to give the Red Wings the lead, 8-4.
Williams and Quinn homered in the top of the fourth, bringing Lehigh Valley to within a run at 8-7. After a walk Hurlbut was pulled after going 3.2 innings, allowing nine hits, seven runs (all earned), one walk and three strikeouts on 70 pitches-47 for strikes. Alan Busenitz came into relieve Hurlbut and struck out Alfaro to end the top of fourth, as the Red Wings continued to cling to a one-run lead.
Busenitz finished with 3.1 innings of relief, allowing one hit while striking out five.
Michael Tonkin came into the ball game for the Red Wings in the top of the eighth, and allowed a home run to Hoskins to tie the game at 8-8. Tonkin fanned the side in the ninth, and in the 10th inning allowed a walk but a double play quickly ended the threat.
In the bottom of the 10th against reliever Pat Venditte, Palka singled and was bunted over to second base by Niko Goodrum. Reginatto worked Venditte for a walk, and Shuck followed with a single to load the bases. The IronPigs turned a double play to get out of the jam and send the game into the 11th inning.
Kevin Chapman came in to pitch the 11th inning, and with one out allowed back-to-back singles. A broken bat single by Crawford set off a race around the bases aided by a throwing error, as the IronPigs moved ahead 10-8. They added a run on a groundout
The IronPigs out-hit the Red Wings 17-14. Former Red Wing Florimon had five hits.
Winning Pitcher: Venditte (3-0)
Losing Pitcher: Chapman (0-1)
Save: Beato (11)
Box Score – Click here for the box score and play-by-play narrative.
Losing Pitcher: Chapman (0-1)
Save: Beato (11)
Box Score – Click here for the box score and play-by-play narrative.
NOTES: Lehigh Valley has now won seven straight games against the Red Wings dating back to the last game of 2016. ..David Hurlbut had pitched at least 5.0 innings in each of his first five starts prior to Wednesday night, and the nine hits and seven runs allowed were the most he’s allowed in a game this season.
