IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Wings Great Late

Published on July 14, 2007 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


Trent Oeltjen and Denard Span had key hits in an exciting 8th inning as the Wings batted around to defeat the Indianapolis Indians Saturday night at Frontier Field, before a paid crowd of 10,935 on Latino Night.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning when Brad Eldred lofted a deep fly ball to left field that just barely had enough hang time to deposit itself in the visitor bullpen. Left fielder Oeltjen made a leaping effort, but the ball sailed over his glove for a solo home run. The only other hit allowed by Blackburn to this point was a single to the leadoff hitter in the first who was quickly erased on a double-play.

On the offensive side of the diamond, the Wings were retired in order until there were two outs in the bottom of the fifth when Brian Buscher slapped a soft line drive on a 2-2 pitch in the hole between the shortstop and third baseman. Jose Morales followed with a single of his own and aggressive base running by Buscher allowed him to advance to third while Morales moved up to second on the throw by the center fielder. With two runners in scoring position and two out, Oeltjen could not cash in and grounded out to the second baseman.

In the sixth, the Indians attempted a squeeze on a 1-2 pitch from Blackburn, the ball rolled slowly out toward the mound and Blackburn flipped the ball toward catcher Chris Heintz who could not hold on to the ball allowing the run to score. Former Red Wing Michael Ryan hit a two-run homer over the bullpen in right field to make the score 4-0.

Span responded the next inning with a triple to centerfield on a 1-0 pitch. Alexi Casilla hit a solid ground ball single through the right side of the infield to put the Red Wings on the board. After hits by Matt Tolbert and Darnell McDonald loaded the bases with none out, the Indians replaced McLeary with Juan Perez. The left-hander Perez walked the left-hitting Doug Deeds to force in a run and make it a 4-2 game. Glenn Williams got credit for an RBI fielder's choice when Luis Ordaz couldn't handle Williams' line drive cleanly, getting only a force at second for the first out with the score now 4-3. Buscher worked Perez for a walk to re-load the bases for Morales, 2-for-5 (.400) in previous bases-full at-bats this season. But Perez fanned Morales, and got a hard-hit ground ball out from Oeltjen to escape the sixth with the 4-3 Indy lead.

After a leadoff walk to Eldred in the seventh, Blackburn went to a 1-2 count before calling for Wings trainer Tony Leo. Stan Cliburn followed and Blackburn exited the game, with Brian Bass coming into the game. Medical examination showed that Blackburn strained his right forearm and is expected to miss his next start. .

McDonald led off the 8th inning with a hard ground ball to third that the fielder could not handle allowing him to reach first. On the very next pitch, McDonald stole second base to put himself in scoring position with no one out. After Deed struck out, a wild pitch advanced McDonald to third. A walk by Williams brought the hot-hitting Brian Buscher to the plate with runners on the corners. With Franquels Osoria on in relief and Tommy Watkins running at first for Williams, Buscher drilled a 1-0 pitch to right to plate McDonald and tie the score at 4-4. With Watkins at third, Oeltjen hit a go-ahead double and put two runners in scoring position for Span. Span delivered with another hit and cashed in two two-out RBI to keep the rally going. After two walks, McDonald returned to the plate for the second time in the inning and walked to force in another run.

Bass returned to the mound for the 9th inning and retired the Indians to close out the game and got the win with three shutout innings of relief.

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International League Stories from July 14, 2007


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