Red Wings clinch playoff berth for the first time since 2013
By: Mateo Ortiz
ROCHESTER, NY - The last time the Rochester Red Wings were in the AAA baseball playoffs, the PlayStation 4 had not been released yet. That officially changed on Sunday afternoon as, for the first time since 2013, the Red Wings punched their ticket into the AAA playoffs.
By defeating the Buffalo Bisons 15-8 on Sunday, Rochester clinched the best record in the International League in the second half, which sets them up with a date with the Memphis Redbirds, who won the first half title in a best-of-three series for the International League title.
The win against the Bisons on Sunday did not come without a little bit of a scare for the Wings as they faced a 5-1 deficit heading into the fifth inning. A loss on Sunday as well as a Syracuse Mets win against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs would end the Red Wings season. But a five-run fifth inning, which featured home runs from 1B Liover Peguero, RF Leandro Pineda, and CF Andrew Pinckney, gave the Wings a 6-5 lead.
Red Wings SS Seaver King hit an inside-the-park home run in the top of the sixth inning to give Rochester a 7-5 lead. In the top half of the seventh, the Red Wings would put the nail in the coffin on the game and the Mets' season as they put up a five spot in the inning, which once again featured a home run by Pinckney, as well as DH Maxwell Romero Jr. Rochester would take a 12-5 lead and tacked on a three spot in the ninth, which featured the Red Wings' eighth home run on the day by Catcher Riley Adams en route to their 15-8 victory over the Bisons.
The Red Wings would have clinched on Sunday regardless of the outcome, as the Mets fell to the IronPigs 5-4 in 11 innings. Syracuse led 3-2 heading into the eighth inning but gave up a sacrifice fly later in the inning that tied the game and sent it to extras.
Rochester ended the second half of the season with a 45-30 record, one game better than the second-place Indianapolis Indians, who were eliminated from playoff contention last night but still finished with a better overall record than the Mets based on win percentage. The Mets finished 1.5 games behind the Wings due to their loss against Lehigh Valley.
For the first time since 1953, the Red Wings finished a season with 90 wins. By combining their 45-28 first-half record, Rochester finished the overall season with a 90-58 record, which is the best in all of AAA baseball. The last time the Red Wings had a season with more than 90 wins, the team was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals; that team fell in four games to the Montreal Royals in the Governors' Cup finals.
Even though Rochester clinched the best record in AAA, they will not be hosting any playoff games at Innovative Field, as under the AAA playoff format, the first-half league winner will host all three games in the league finals. This means that Rochester will be traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, for a three-game series, with a trip to the National Championship Game on the line against the winner of the Pacific Coast League championship between the Las Vegas Aviators and the Oklahoma City Comets. The winners of their respective series will face each other in Las Vegas, NV, on Saturday, September 26, at 7:05 PT.
The Red Wings will begin their series with the Redbirds on Tuesday night at AutoZone Park in Memphis. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 7:45 ET.
Comments