By: Liam Hoffmann
ROCHESTER, NY-- Word spread quickly in Rochester that New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole would be at Innovative Field Friday night. A record-high 13,605 were in attendance to watch the Red Wings walk off the Scranton Wilkes/Barre (SW/B) RailRiders 2-1. The attendance figure was the highest for any regular season game in the park's history and trailed only a 1997 exhibition Baltimore Orioles game that saw Cal Ripken Jr. in Rochester.
"We were kinda held at bay on offense until the last inning," Red Wings shortstop Jackson Cluff said. "When we have good pitching and good defense, sometimes all it takes is one inning to win a ballgame,"
Orlando Ribalta took the mound for Rochester at the top of the ninth and retired all three batters he faced to earn his second win of the year. Red Wing Jackson Cluff walked then stole second to give Brady Lindsly the winning run in scoring position with no outs. Lindsly sac-bunted and Cluff reached third. Eric Mejia's sac-fly to right field brought Cluff across and secured the win.
This season with the Red Wings has been Cluff's first at the AAA level.
"He's rising to the occasion up here at the highest level he's played at," Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. "He's showing me that if he continues to do what he's doing he can find himself up in the big leagues as well."
Cole, on a rehab assignment in SW/B after an elbow injury in March, gave the city of Rochester a show tossing 4.1 innings striking out 10 batters and allowing no earned runs. He threw precisely 70 pitches which resulted in a pitching change to Oddanier Mosqueda mid-at bat.
"I felt really strong at the end, there's probably a few more in the tank which is a good thing," Cole said. "...and we're making steady progression at the same time."
Joan Adon started for the Red Wings and pitched five innings, fanning six with Jeter Downs' third inning-solo shot being the only run surrendered on the day. He also walked four. The Rochester bullpen managed four scoreless innings down the stretch. In all, SW/B hit 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position Friday.
"[Adon] came out the gate throwing the ball over the plate," LeCroy said. "Lost some command there later but I'm really happy that he got through the fifth with the game tied."
Downs' homer was the first run scored of the game. In the bottom half of that third inning, Cole struck out the side. Rochester's 16 strikeouts at the plate were the most by the team this year.
The Wings struck back when Jack Dunn led off the bottom of the fourth and reached second on a catching error by Ben Rice. Cole struck out the next two Rochester batters but then Riley Adams drove Dunn in with a soft groundball between first and second. The unearned run evened the score at one.
Adon and company narrowly escaped the fifth inning scot-free. RailRider Taylor Trammell led it off by walking then stole second and reached third via an error by catcher Brady Lindsly. Later, Adon walked a pair of batters in a two-out situation but next struck out Rice in three pitches to retire the frame.
"The fifth's kinda been his issue all year but he found a way to make a pitch late and got a really good hitter out," LeCroy said.
The Red Wings faced a similar jam in the top of the seventh. Downs singled before stealing second and an out later Oswald Peraza walked. SW/B pulled off the double steal to put both runners in scoring position for Jasson Dominguez, but he grounded out.
The Red Wings improve to 34-31 with the victory. Tomorrow, Rochester and SW/B will square off again with the first pitch set for 6:45 p.m. Spenser Watkins (3-2, 4.43) is expected to start on the mound for Rochester.
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