The Red Wings punched their ticket to the Triple-A title game in Las Vegas, winning the International League championship on Thursday night in Memphis.
Rochester bested the Memphis Redbirds 3-2, scoring two runs in the eighth to take the lead and then holding on through the ninth to take the best of three-game series.
“We’ve been the 'never say die' Wings all year long,” Rochester manager Matthew LeCroy said in an on-field postgame interview. “Luckily for us, we scored one more than they did. And I’m super proud of everybody.”
The Wings secured the league title for the first time since 1997, marking the 20th championship in team history. Rochester will face Oklahoma City on Saturday in Las Vegas in a winner-take-all matchup for the Triple-A title.
Rochester’s 90-win regular season led all of Minor League Baseball, and marked the first time the team had reached that mark since 1953.
