Rochester could not hold on after a strong start in the first inning, losing the Sunday finale with Minnesota 13-7. The Honkers homered twice but it was not enough to overcome an eight-run Mud Puppies fourth inning.

Rochester took the lead with a four-run first inning, Andrew McKenna (San Francisco) drove in a run with a single in his first Honkers at-bat. Zach Cole (Ball St) followed with a long home run to right field to jump out by three.

The Honkers held the lead until the fourth, Minnesota batted around, sending 11 hitters to plate and scoring eight times. Ben Palmer (Iowa Western) and Kyle Huckstorf (Iowa) brought home runs with singles, while Will Surek (Ohio) capped the scoring with a three-run homer to left. The Mud Puppies used four hits and three Honkers errors in the inning to grab the lead.

Rochester battled back with a pair of home runs, Ben North (Creighton) hit his second in three nights in the fifth and Otto Grimm (Minnesota) hit his fourth of the summer in the sixth.
Grimm added a third RBI as part of a two-run eighth with a single. Zach Meddings (San Joaquin Delta) notched his first RBI with an eighth-inning single as well.

Despite battling back, Rochester could not bring the tying run to the plate.

The Honkers snap a four-game winning streak with the loss, falling to 24-25 on the summer and 9-8 on the second half. They open a two-game set with the Eau Claire at Carson Park at 6:35 tomorrow night. The game will be available on the Rochester Honkers Radio Network (HonkersBroadcast) on MIXLR.

By Nick DeLuca//Broadcasting and Media Relations Intern