Nationals' Triple-A Affiliate Loses Championship Game in Heartbreaking Fashion
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It's been a sensational year on the farm for the Washington Nationals.
They added tons of talent to their ranks, and many of their top prospects had impactful seasons. That led to this pipeline having a huge rise in year-over-year rankings, which sets this franchise up for future success at the major league level.
But what the Rochester Red Wings -- the Nationals' Triple-A affiliate -- accomplished this season was the cherry on top, as they won the International League for the first time since 1997 and earned a chance to become the Triple-A champions this year in a winner-take-all game against the Oklahoma City Comets.
Unfortunately, the Red Wings were defeated in heartbreaking fashion.
Rochester Red Wings Lose Championship Game in Extra Innings
In Las Vegas on Saturday night, the Red Wings jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Leandro Pineda had an RBI single. Then, one frame later, Rochester went up 2-0 when Liover Peguero hammered a ball 454 feet over the left field fence for a solo home run.
From there, it was a pitcher's duel. Top prospect Jarlin Susana threw two scoreless innings where he gave up just one hit, struck out one and walked zero. Joe Glassey, who was acquired ahead of this year's trade deadline, then threw a scoreless frame before right-handers Max Kranick and Erick Mejia followed suit.
But like Nationals fans became accustomed to at the big league level, they saw the bullpen blow the lead late in the game. Eddy Yean, who had a sensational season for Rochester, was charged with the blown save when he gave up two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Righty Kyle Nicolas came in and cleaned up his mess, but the damage had been done.
The Red Wings had chances to score on their end before extras, as the bottom of the ninth began with a leadoff infield single before a runner ended up in scoring position with one out. But a ground out then a fly out sent things to the 10th inning, where a familiar face did not come through for Rochester.
Tasked with getting things to the bottom half of the frame, Clayton Beeter was handed the ball. But he did not perform well, as he walked the first two batters he faced to load up the bases -- there was a ghost runner on second to start the inning -- before he gave up a bases-clearing double that put Oklahoma City up 5-2. For all intents and purposes, that was the game. Rochester got one back in their bottom half of the 10th inning, but when they had runners on the corners and no outs, a double play ball cleared the bases and put two outs on the board.
This was a tough ending for Rochester, and it stings even more since it was Beeter who was largely responsible for the loss. Still, what the Red Wings accomplished this year was incredible, and it bodes well for what could be coming to the big league level in the near future.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai