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MOOSIC – Eddy Rodriguez has been a very serviceable backup catcher for the RailRiders over the last three seasons.
Most of the time he has been a solid mentor for the younger players, while filling in for backstops such as Austin Romine, Gary Sanchez or Kyle Higashioka.
But he’s also offered several big hits at times. And Monday night was another one of the times when the 31-year-old came through with the bat.
With his team battling in extra innings, Rodriguez blasted a monstrous walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 12th, leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to a 8-4 victory over Pawtucket.
Rodriguez drilled a 2-1 fastball from Red Sox right-hander Brandon Workman and deposited it deep into the RailRiders’ bullpen.
The shot by Rodriguez didn’t overshadow the game that prospect Tyler Wade produced.
The Yankees’ No. 11 prospect according to MLB Pipeline had several big moments for the RailRiders.
As part of a game where he reached base four times, Wade helped force extra innings. In the ninth, he drew a walk with two outs then scored from first on a bloop double to left field – with the outfielders playing no doubles defense – by Dustin Fowler as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tied the score at 4-4 in its last at-bat.
Wade led off the game extending his hitting streak to seven games with a home run that that just cleared the wall in right field for a 1-0 RailRiders lead.
Later in the inning, Mason Williams singled in a run, giving SWB a 2-0 lead.
But a fielding error by Wade in the top of the third led to three PawSox unearned runs. A grounder bounced off Wade’s glove, allowing Dan Butler to reach first. Rusney Castillo doubled him in, and Steve Selsky clubbed a two-run homer as Pawtucket went ahead 3-2.
Caleb Smith’s ineffectiveness didn’t help bail out Wade’s miscues. The lefty fell behind four of the six batters after Butler reached base in the third. That includes running the count to 3-1 on Selsky.
After that rough inning, Smith managed to gut out two more innings and lasted five innings in the outing not allowing any earned runs, while giving up just four hits and one walk in the four-strikeout performance.
Wade did his best to pull the RailRiders out of the deficit he helped create by manufacturing a run in the fifth inning. He walked to lead off the inning and was almost picked off before beating the throw to first base for a stolen base. Two pitches later, he scored on a single by Dustin Fowler to equal the score at 3-3.
Pawtucket regained the lead 4-3 in the sixth inning, plating a run on a groundout against J.R. Graham.
Fowler (4 for 5) was quite the intimidating force at the plate as well on Monday night. The outfielder reached base five times, finished a home run shy of the cycle and whacked his Minor League-leading seventh triple of the season while also scoring a run and driving one in.
RailRiders 8, Pawtucket 4 (12 inn)
Pawtucket`AB`R`H`BI
Castillo cf`5`1`1`1
Holt 3b`3`0`0`0
Dominguez 3b`3`0`0`0
Selsky 1b`5`1`2`2
Travis dh`5`1`2`0
Court lf`4`0`1`0
Witte 2b` 5`0`0`1
Craig rf`3`0`0`0
Bogusevic rf`2`0`0`0
Butler c`5`1`2`0
Miller ss`5`0`0`0
Totals`45`4`8`4
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Wade 2b`4`3`2`1
Fowler cf`5`1`4`2
Frazier lf` 5`0`0`0
Ford 1b`6`0`1`0
Culver ss`4`1`0`0
Williams rf`5`1`3`1
Payton dh`5`1`2`0
Rodriguez c`5`1`2`4
Avelino 3b`5`0`0`0
Totals`44`8`14`8
E: Holt (1), Wade (4). DP: Red Sox 2, RailRiders 0. LOB: Red Sox 7 RailRiders 11. 2B: Catsillo (7), Court (3), Fowler (8). 3B: Fowler (7). HR: Selsky (3), Wade (2), Rodriguez (2). SB: Fowler (5), Wade (12), Williams (4). CS: Culver (1). SAC: Williams, Rodriguez. Outfield assist: Court (Fowler at home)
Pawtucket`003`001`000`000 —`4
RailRiders`200`010`001`004`—`8
Pawtucket`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Johnsn `6.1`7`3`3`3`6
Martin (H, 2)`1.2`1`0`0`0`2
Shephrd (L, 0-2)`2.1`4`3`3`3`0
Wrkmn `0.0`1`1`1`0`0
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Smith `5.0`4`3`0`1`3
Graham `1.0`3`1`1`0`0
Jones `3.0`0`0`0`0`5
Frieri (W, 2-0)`3.0`1`0`0`1`3
IBB: Fowler (by Shepherd)
Umpires: HP: Mike Wiseman. 1B: Jeremy Riggs. 3B: Blake Carnahan
Time: 3:48; Att: 4,631