IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Red Wings Fly High in Final Game

Published on September 1, 2008 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


What a way to end the season. Garrett Jones' 23rd home run of the season may have been his biggest, as he hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Rochester Red Wings past the Buffalo Bisons, 9-6, Monday afternoon at Frontier Field. The Wings finished their season 74-70.

The home run, which may have been Jones' last as a Wing, soared into the right field bullpen.

"It was a fun way to go out," said Jones, who is a free agent after the season ends. "Rochester's been great and I enjoyed playing here for four years. Hopefully it's not the last time I'm here but we'll see."

Soon-to-be Minnesota Twin Jason Pridie also had a great game that shouldn't be overshadowed as he was just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Pridie also scored the team's first three runs.

Oddly enough, the game had a similar start.

The last first pitch of the 2008 season by Wings starter Brian Duensing proved to be a dubious one, mostly because it was a home run by Trevor Crowe. The other story behind it was that adding that extra run in the first brought the total number of runs allowed in the first inning to 113, tying the most amount of runs the Wings have allowed in an inning since the fifth inning in 2000.

Fortunately for the Wings, they answered right back with a Jones RBI single to score Pridie in the first and a Pridie solo home run in the second. Those runs made the score 2-1 Wings.

Duensing also dealed with some adversity in the fourth. After a lead-off groundout, Duensing loaded the bases with three consecutive singles. After that, he got Morgan Ensberg to strike out and Brad Snyder to fly out to center.

After hitting a single, Pridie scored his third run of the game in the fifth when Alejandro Machado doubled, putting the Wing up another, 3-1. Jones helped tack on another with a single to plate Machado.

The Bisons put themselves back in the game in the sixth. After Travis Hafner, who was down on rehab assignment, earned a one-out walk, Chris Gimenez smoked a ball over the right-center field fence, putting the score at 4-3.

After that home run, Duensing was relieved by Julio DePaula. Duensing finished allowing three runs on eight hits in five and one-third innings.

The Bisons tied the game at 4 later that inning off DePaula with a two-out single by Snyder, plating Ensberg.

With one out in the seventh against reliever John Meloan, the Wings loaded the bases on a Howie Clark single and two walks. Clark scored the go-ahead run on a bizarre double play in which second baseman Josh Barfield fielded a grounder hit by Luke Hughes with the infield in; Barfield chased baserunner Brock Peterson back toward first. Barfield tossed to first baseman Jordan Brown to get the batter Hughes, then Brown tagged Peterson off base to complete the double play. Regardless of the confusion, Clark scored before the third out to put the Wings ahead, 5-4.

Another Twin-to-be, Matt Macri, added to the Wings tally in the eighth inning with a solo home run, cushioning the score at 6-4.

That home run proved very important to Rochester as the Bisons scored two runs off Danny Graves when Crowe and Barfield had back-to-back hits for the first run and pinch-hitter Todd Linden had the game-tying RBI with two strikes on him and two outs on the board. Graves (4-6) snuck out of the inning by striking out Gimenez, who also finished just a triple shy of the cycle.

A lead-off walk by Machado and a single by Clark off reliever Brian Slocum (3-7), set the stage for Jones, who belted the ball to win the game.

Monday's paid attendance of 11,374 brought the season total to 490,806 - the third highest regular season attendance total in franchise history.

Wings 1B/DH Randy Ruiz, who was promoted to the Twins August 1, officially clinched the International League batting title Monday. Ruiz was hitting .320 when promoted, and finished with the batting crown after Pawtucket's Joe Thurston went 2-for-5 Monday, finishing at .316. Ruiz becomes only the second Red Wing (outfielder Jason Kubel in 2004) to win the IL batting title since 1988, when Steve Finley captured the crown with a .314 batting average. Ruiz is the first right-handed Rochester hitter to win the IL batting title since infielder Rich Dauer in 1976....Rochester started slowly this season with a 19-32 record in their first 51, games; since May 26th the Red Wings had a 55-38 record ...The Red Wings finished the month of August with a 20-9 record, their first 20-win month since July, 1997 (23-7)...The Twins' Class A Ft. Myers Miracle open the divisional round of the Florida State League playoffs T! uesday in Dunedin against the Blue Jays.

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