Wings Rally Outdone by Indy

The Rochester Red Wings dropped their third game of the series Friday night in Indianapolis, 8-7. Multi-hit games from DH Matt Adams, C Brady Lindsly, and LF Jack Dunn paced an offense that logged 11 hits.

Indianapolis started the night with a bang pushing across one run in the first inning. RF Canaan Smith-Njigba extended his hit streak to ten straight games with a one-hopped liner off the left field wall for a two-out double. In the next at-bat, CF Ryan Vilade cashed in on a single to center field which brought Smith-Njigba around to score making it a 1-0 ballgame.

The Indians extended their lead in the third inning with a solo home run off the bat of 2B Nick Gonzales. That was the Arizona native's second homer of the series and 14th of the year with Indianapolis. The Gonzales home run pushed the Indians lead to 2-0 after three innings.

Rochester threatened in the top half of the fourth but left two runners in scoring position, and was unable to push any runs across. Indianapolis however scored another run via the long ball. LF Joe Perez hammered a changeup to the opposite field over the right field wall for his second home run of the year for the Indians. This extended Indianapolis’ lead to 3-0 after four innings played.

Indianapolis used the long ball once again to tack on another run in the fifth. Ryan Vilade crushed his sixth home run of the year off the light post in left field to extend the Indians lead to 4-0. Indianapolis was only able to push across one run in the bottom of the fifth while stranding runners on first and second.

The Wings offense finally broke through and got on the board in the 7th inning, extending their runs-scored streak to 137 consecutive games. Rochester got it started with a one-out single by RF Erick Mejia, who went on to steal second base in the very next at-bat. Mejia was able to advance on a wild pitch from the Indianapolis pitcher which was also ball four to 3B Jeter Downs, making it runners on first and third with one out. C Brady Lindsly cashed in the first run of the night for Rochester with an RBI single punched into right field, moving Downs to third, and scoring Mejia making the score 4-1.

SS Richie Martin kept the rally going with a single of his own to right field scoring Downs and moving Lindsly to third making it a 4-2 ballgame. Martin moved up to second base on his 29th stolen base of the year, putting runners on third and second with one out. 2B Darren Baker made it a one-run ball game with a single of his own to left field to score Lindsly and move Martin to third, making it 4-3. Baker stole the third bag of the inning on the Indians moving himself up to second base with his 18th stolen base of the year, and LF Jack Dunn followed that up by loading the bases with a walk.

A mid-inning pitching change for Indianapolis didn’t stop Rochester in the seventh when CF Derek Hill joined the barrage of singles with one of his own, scoring Martin to tie the game at four. DH Matt Adams joined the rally and helped the Wings take the lead with bases-clearing his double down the left field line that scored Baker, Dunn, and Hill, giving the Red Wings a 7-4 lead. Eight consecutive batters reached base during the hit parade.

Indianapolis quickly answered back to Rochester’s seven-run top half of the seventh inning with a run of their own. Nick Gonzales notched his second hit of the game, singling to right field. Ryan Vilade then laced a double to the right-center field gap for his third hit of the game and also scored Gonzales making the score 7-5.

The Indians regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning to go up 8-7 on Rochester. DH Vinny Capra started the inning off with a leadoff line drive single to left field. Back-to-back walks from 3B Josh Bissonette and C Grant Koch loaded the bases. SS Chris Owings lined a triple to the left-center field gap, clearing the bases and regaining the lead for Indianapolis.

Rochester’s ninth-inning rally was shut down quickly. A Jack Dunn one-out single showed life, but Indianapolis turned a double play for the second and third outs of the inning taking down Rochester with a final score of 8-7.

LHP Alemao Hernandez made his seventh start for Rochester tonight going 5.0 innings, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits while striking out two. LHP Anthony Banda came on in relief for Hernandez and took the loss, tossing 2.0 innings, giving up four runs, on three hits while striking out four. RHP Hobie Harris finished off the bottom of the eighth for the Wings, tossing 1.0 scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Diamond Pro Player of the Game honors go to DH Matt Adams. “Big City” went 2-for-4 today, with a double and three RBI. Adams' double tonight marked his 18th double of the season, which is his most in a single season since 2012 with Memphis (STL). This was also the third time this year the Pennsylvania native has posted three RBI, last coming on 8/25 vs. Worcester.

Rochester looks to get back in the win column Saturday night and finish off the last night game of the year with a win. The Wings will send RHP Daniel Mengden to the mound for his third start of the year for Rochester and will face RHP Roansy Contreras for Indianapolis. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

Find the box score attached here.