Duluth, Minn. – Anthony Cepeda stroked a two-run walk-off single the other way in the bottom of the ninth, capping off the biggest comeback of the season for the Duluth Huskies (20-25, 4-6) over the Rochester Honkers (27-18, 8-3). Duluth trailed by as many as six runs early in the game, but rallied back for their third straight victory, 10-9.
It seemed like a good start for the home side. Maddox Monsour and Jalen Smith jumped on Rochester starter Owen Myers for homers in the first, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead after a seven pitch top half tossed by Duluth starter Nick Terhaar.
From there, the wheels fell off for the next two innings. Terhaar allowed the first six to reach in the second, with Rochester batting around and scoring four runs. The third was more of the same, as the Honkers sent eight more to the plate and scored three to make the score 7-2 after three. There was no single swing that did the damage, but two hits from catcher Cooper Kruk and two RBI apiece for Seth Thompson and Matt Maize helped facilitate the breakout offensive segment.
From there, the Huskies slowly began to chip away. Reliever Carter Boos allowed a run in the top of the fifth after a scoreless fourth to make the score 8-2, the largest deficit Duluth faced in the game, halfway through the fifth. The Huskies plated two more against Myers thanks to a George McIntyre wall-ball double and began to chip away.
The sixth saw a nearly identical frame. Rochester scored one in the top half, with a fourth RBI on a triple from Maize driving in Jacob Neutz. But the Huskies pushed across two more in the sixth, this time against reliever Jake Frederickson. The Dawgs ran wild, stealing four bases in the inning to set up run-producing swings from Jalen Smith and Cepeda.
Neither team scored in the seventh, but Rochester turned to Ezekiel Mendoza in the eighth. Mendoza started as the designated hitter and had a productive day, but doing both proved too much for him. He allowed four straight runners to reach and two runs to score before being removed without recording an out.
Brandon Fears was summoned to hold the lead, and on first glance it appeared he was going to fail at his task in one pitch. George McIntyre laid down a picturesque bunt down the first base line, leaning and twisting away to get it down. He took off down the line while Neutz picked up from first. Angel Santiago went to cover the bag, and McIntyre got in his line of sight to cause the throw to skitter into right field. Jake Pashby, the Huskies third base coach, windmilled both Dax Hardcastle and Cepeda home and McIntyre wheeled all the way to third. After the play concluded, the Honkers requested McIntyre to be called out for interference. On replay, McIntyre swerved just out of the baseline and the umpires, without access to a review screen, saw the same and called him out, sending the runners back to their original places. Andrew Ermis and Jack Ryan were set down consecutively to keep the lead at one.
There was more controversy in the top of the ninth when Mendoza stepped up to hit. After two pitches, Duluth skipper Marcus Pointer called attention to the fact that he was removed from the game as a pitcher and, after a lengthy delay, Mendoza gave way to Fears at the plate. Fears saw six more pitches after being handed a 2-0 count and picked up a base hit, but Rochester left him aboard.
The bottom of the ninth began innocuously, with Ryan striking out swinging. McIntyre then earned an eight pitch walk, the first Fears had offered in over seven innings of work on the season. Kayden Campbell followed it up with an opposite field double to put the winning run in scoring position. Jalen Smith was intentionally walked and Hardcastle struck out, setting up Cepeda, who had three hits already. Down in the count 1-2, Cepeda took a fastball to left center field for the walk-off two-run single, scoring Monsour and Campbell and handing Duluth their most improbable win of the season.
Cepeda was obviously the star of the night for Duluth, picking up four total hits and three RBI in addition to a game winner. Campbell reached five times, drawing three walks and a hit-by-pitch before lining a double in the ninth. As a team, Duluth had six extra-base hits. Andrade, in his first appearance of the season, earned the win for two shutout innings, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out two.
For Rochester, Maize had four RBI while Kruk reached four times and Robert Orr reached three, with two hits for each of the trio. Fears took his first blown save and first loss, exploding his ERA from 3.00 to 5.00. The Honkers drop just their third game of the second half, but fall a game below Waterloo, who added another win on the night.
On Deck
The two teams will play again tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. CT, followed by a return trip to Rochester on Thursday and Friday to complete a four game set. Duluth will be back home next weekend to host the Wausau Woodchucks. Tickets for home games can be found on the team website and all Huskies action is available to stream on FloSports.