Rochester Wins International League Championship
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Won, 3-2 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Rochester 3 Memphis 2
• Z. Kent 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Beeter (W, 1-0) 1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K
• Yean (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Lipscomb 3-5, 2B, CS
• Pinckney 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Pineda 2-4, R, 2B
The Red Wings rallied for two in the 8th to erase a 2-1 deficit and breezed through the 9th to win, 3-2 and advance to the Triple-A National Championship. They’ll face the Oklahoma City Comets tomorrow night in Las Vegas.
Zak Kent opened the game with three hitless (and scoreless!) innings, issuing a walk but striking out three. Clayton Beeter, the sixth of eight Rochester pitchers to appear, vultured the win after giving up the go-ahead run in the 7th, his only inning pitched.
After failing to score the deliver the baserunners who got on base from the 2nd to the 7th, Rochester got three straight two-out hits. Leandro Pineda doubled and scored the tying run on Andrew Pinckney’s subsequent two-bagger, then Cortland Lawson plated the game-winner on a single.
Eddie Yean had a second consecutive clean outing with a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the deal with a a pair of groundouts sandwiched around a flyout.
The title is the first for the Rochester minor-league franchise since 1997 and the first AAA championship since Washington relocated from Montreal in 2005, and second overall for the Nats/Expos organization (1981).
Officially, neither team has announced its starter (OKC) or opener (ROC), but it should be noted that Jackson Kent would be on four days’ rest as of tomorrow.
Congrats to the team! Its been an all around super impressive season for a team that wasn’t looking like it would be super intersting or competitive to start the season.
Also seeing them celebrate after the game showed it genuinely meant something to them. Hope they can bring home the AAA wide title tomorrow, and that they’re given a bonus per diem for the long trip to Vegas to celebrate their great season.
Then I hope on Monday, Yean and Mejia get promoted to DC. Mejia, in particular has been insanely good this season, and deserves another shot in the majors, this time from the mound.
Oh, oops, the season ends on Sunday. Thought there was still a game or two left. Too bad.
No beating on Beeter today
Joe Soarks / Buck Rodgers skippered some very good AAA Indianapolis squads in Expo affiliation years not to mention the years in Denver ( Trader Jack Mckeon pre trader days and Felipe Alou who also spent a summer in Indols at old Bush stadium on rhe White River
Congrats to the redwings especially Skipper Matt
Okay, to follow up on my post from a few weeks ago, I’m putting my marker down now: Nats will add Pineda to the 40 man.
1) he’s up to about 200 AAA plate appearances with dominant numbers and, critically, equally good “expected” numbers.
2) he’s a minor league free agent. With everyone else, the only way we’d lose them is if they’re taken in the rule 5 draft, which requires a season-long spot on the 25- man. Pineda wouldn’t even need a spot on the 40 man for another team to sign him. And the rule 5 draft might not even take place–some teams are planning to expose their eligible prospects and risk the draft–but that won’t help with Pineda.
If Pineda has even close to the value of the other guys being considered, he should be selected.