Lipscomb homers as Rochester rallies past Lehigh Valley

Trey Lipscomb changed the tone of the homestand with one swing, and Rochester rode that blast and a seventh-inning push to a 3-2 comeback win over Lehigh Valley on Friday night at ESL Ballpark.

The Red Wings had spent the previous night trying to shake off a tough loss, and they answered with the kind of response that can steady a club in the middle of a series. Lipscomb opened the scoring in the second inning with his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot that traveled 412 feet to center and left the bat at 104.8 mph. Rochester then waited through a tight middle stretch as Lehigh Valley clawed back into it with runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

That set up the inning that mattered. Rochester finally broke through again in the seventh, when Abimelec Ortiz tied the game and Andrew Pinckney scored the go-ahead run. The rally turned a one-run deficit into a lead that Zach Penrod protected for his second save, closing the door on a game that had looked like it might slip away after the IronPigs erased the early damage.

Chandler Champlain gave Rochester the breathing room it needed to stay patient. The right-hander, listed at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, was credited with the win and improved to 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA. It was his third straight quality start, the kind of outing that keeps Triple-A games within reach long enough for the offense to flip them late.

Rochester entered the night at 23-20 and kept the momentum rolling against a Lehigh Valley club that had already been pushed to the edge earlier in the week. The Red Wings had beaten the IronPigs 13-11 on May 13, then followed Friday’s comeback with back-to-back shutouts, 5-0 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday, to take five of six in the series. By the end, Lehigh Valley had little room left after dropping another game in a homestand that continued to tilt Rochester’s way.

The Red Wings also had another bat heating up in Yohandy Morales, known around the club as YoYo Morales. During the homestand, he hit .478 with 11 hits, five RBI and a 1.433 OPS, while his season line sat at .358 with 10 homers and 27 RBI in 44 games. For Rochester, that kind of production and the late-inning comeback mechanics gave the series a real edge.