Alek Thomas came to the plate in the 10th inning with the bases loaded and Oklahoma City’s season distilled to one swing. His line drive to center cleared the bases, completing a comeback that had taken seven scoreless innings to begin and giving the Comets a 5-3 victory over Rochester in the Triple-A championship game Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Thomas finished 2-for-3 with a double and a hit by pitch, but his final hit carried the night. With automatic runner Josue De Paula at second, James Tibbs III walked and Mike Sirota followed with another walk to fill the bases against Clayton Beeter. Thomas drove in all three, turning a 2-2 game into a 5-2 lead before Rochester recorded an out.
The swing paid off a long wait by an Oklahoma City offense that had been shut out through seven innings. The Comets collected baserunners along the way but could not push one home until Tibbs opened the eighth with a walk against Eddy Yean.
Sirota followed by grounding a single through the right side, sending Tibbs home without a play. Thomas sacrificed Sirota to second, and Ryan Fitzgerald — after striking out in each of his first three plate appearances — drove a sharp line ball toward the left-center gap. It carried to the base of the wall as Sirota scored the tying run and Fitzgerald slid into second with a double.
Those two runs were enough to reward a pitching staff that refused to let Rochester stretch its early advantage. Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy had identified that challenge before the game.
“They got really good pitching and, you know, we got some really good hitting and maybe play some small ball. Maybe not. We’ll see, but see what happens.”
— Matt LeCroy, Red Wings Manager
Rochester scored against Emmet Sheehan in each of the first two innings. Cayden Wallace walked with two outs in the first, moved to third on Riley Adams’ single and scored when Leandro Pineda grounded a single into right.
Liover Peguero supplied the larger blow in the second. His towering drive to left stayed fair and carried beyond the ballpark, giving Rochester a 2-0 lead. The Red Wings continued to create traffic against Sheehan, but they could not add to it.
Sheehan allowed two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking three. After he departed with two runners aboard in the sixth, Kyle Hurt induced Peguero to ground into an inning-ending double play. Hurt worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings without a walk, beginning a bullpen effort that kept Rochester off the board from the third through the ninth.
Jerming Rosario, Paul Gervase and Seth Halvorsen carried the game the rest of the way. Halvorsen entered with two on and one out in the ninth and prevented either runner from scoring, sending the tied game to extras. He earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and the bullpen finished with no earned runs allowed over 4 2/3.
Rochester brought home its automatic runner in the bottom of the 10th, but Oklahoma City traded that run for two outs. After Wallace singled to put runners at the corners, Adams grounded to Hyeseong Kim, who started a double play through Noah Miller and Tibbs as Trey Lipscomb scored. Halvorsen then struck out Pineda to end it.
The Comets finished with five runs, eight hits and no errors. Sirota went 1-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs, while Tibbs walked twice and scored twice.
For most of the night, Oklahoma City’s championship hopes sat behind Rochester’s early lead and a row of zeroes. Sirota and Fitzgerald finally broke through. Thomas finished the comeback with one drive into center and three runners racing home.