By: Lucas Vargas
Rochester N.Y. - The Rochester Red Wings had a very slow start in tonight's game falling short 6-5 against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on fan appreciation night. It took the Red Wings 8.1 innings to put runs on the board against veteran pitcher Drew Hutchinson (4-4 record 5.96 ERA) who pitched 7.1 innings, with 5 K's, allowing 5 hits, and 2 runs.
The IronPigs got out to a good start in the second inning. Second baseman Jim Haley had a triple which was followed up by an RBI single by third baseman Drew Ellis. The Pigs kept up their consistent hitting with a home run in the sixth by left fielder Brewer Hicklen to put the Pigs up to 3-0.
In the 8th is where the Red Wings found their stride as catcher Brady Lindsly hit a two-run homer to close the gap to 3-2 at the start of the ninth.
"I didn't like it to be honest with you. I was very uncomfortable. His fast ball was getting on me big time and I could not lay off a fast ball up." Brady Lindsly commented on how difficult it was at bat against Drew Hutchinson. Lindsly did add that he had "only one good swing" on a slider which was the ball that was homered.
The fourth pitcher on the mound for the Red Wings Gerson seemed to have struggled giving up three runs and four walks which set up the Pigs with a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
At the start of the bottom of the ninth the Red Wings looked to be in trouble multiple times with both of their scores coming down to them being down on strikes. Erick Mejia and Frankie Tostado kept the Red Wings alive with Tostado scoring an RBI triple knotting the game at 5-5 going into extra innings.
In extra innings we saw the IronPigs capitalize with the runner on second base. Darick Hall hitting the RBI single to put the Pigs up 6-5 and the Red Wings not being able to capitalize in extra innings.
The pitching staff for the Red Wings struggled as we saw six different pitchers come out to the mound tonight. This is what Red Wings manager Mattew LeCroy had to say about the pitching changes, "Guys are going to be available and you know we're at the end and we've done a pretty good job of protecting them guys who don't normally pitch after a night game will have to pitch you know so that's just what happens when you go extra as we tied to that we had to use a couple guys there." LeCroy said.
The Red Wings will have their final home game tomorrow against the IronPigs where they'll look to finish strong with the first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.