Seaver King kept finding ways to put Rochester in front Tuesday night. When the Red Wings needed the lead for good, he drove a fly ball deep into the left-center-field night and into the Memphis bullpen.
King’s fifth-inning solo homer broke a 1-1 tie, and seven Rochester pitchers protected the advantage through a tense finish, giving the Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the Memphis Redbirds in Game 1 at AutoZone Park.
The shortstop finished 3-for-5 with a home run and a double, scored twice and supplied the defining swing in a game that became a test of the bullpen plan manager Matt LeCroy outlined before the first pitch.
“We’ll have a bullpen day today and then Lyon a pitch tomorrow, and if we have to go to Game 3, it’ll be pretty much another bullpen day.”
— Matt LeCroy, Rochester Red Wings Manager
Rochester struck early behind King. He opened the game with a soft single to right, moved to third on Trey Lipscomb’s sharp double to left and scored when Riley Adams lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
Memphis answered in the second when Zach Levenson hammered Matt Krook’s slider on a line over the left-field fence. King nearly restored the lead an inning later, lining a ground-rule double down the right-field line, but Ramon Mendoza threw him out at home on Cayden Wallace’s grounder.
King made sure there would be no play at the plate in the fifth. He drove Jurrangelo Cijntje’s offering high and deep toward left-center, the ball carrying beyond the wall to give Rochester a 2-1 lead. It was King’s third hit of the night and the last one the Red Wings needed to move ahead for good.
The middle of the order created breathing room in the sixth. Leandro Pineda doubled to right, and Andrew Pinckney followed with a high-bouncing grounder that cleared Mendoza at third and skipped down the left-field line. Pineda scored as Pinckney slid into second. Sam Petersen’s single sent Pinckney to third, and Maxwell Romero Jr.’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1.
Those insurance runs quickly became essential. Jimmy Crooks opened the bottom of the sixth by driving Max Kranick’s pitch over the wall in center. Mendoza doubled and Bligh Madris walked before Erick Mejia entered and walked Chase Davis, loading the bases with nobody out.
Mejia escaped. He struck out Levenson, then induced Noah Mendlinger’s inning-ending double-play grounder to Lipscomb.
That was the shape of Rochester’s night: a lead created by King and preserved one pressure point at a time. Joe Glassey earned the win with two scoreless innings, while Kranick, Mejia, Eddy Yean, Justin Lawrence and Kyle Nicolas carried it from there. Six of the seven Red Wings pitchers recorded a win, hold or save.
LeCroy had described bullpen games as part of Rochester’s identity over the previous two months, not merely a postseason improvisation.
“But that’s just what we’ve been built over the last two months, and they’ve did a good job.”
— Matt LeCroy, Rochester Red Wings Manager
The most severe test came over the final two innings. Lawrence allowed a single and two walks in the eighth but struck out Madris and Davis before Nicolas stranded the bases loaded by striking out Mendlinger.
Memphis pressed again in the ninth. Trey Paige singled, Colton Ledbetter walked and Crooks lined his third hit of the night into left, scoring Paige and cutting Rochester’s lead to one. Mendoza’s fly to right moved Ledbetter, the tying run, to third.
Nicolas ended it there, striking out Madris for his third strikeout over 1 1/3 innings and his first save. Rochester finished with 10 hits and no errors; Memphis had seven hits and committed two errors.
The final out supplied another round of the tension that has accompanied Rochester’s path into the postseason. LeCroy had summarized that path before Game 1.
“Unfortunately, it had to come down to the last day, but the boys got it done.”
— Matt LeCroy, Rochester Red Wings Manager
On Tuesday, King gave them the lead. The bullpen made it stand.