By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Rochester Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy called Friday night’s loss to Lehigh Valley “one of our ugliest games that we’ve played all year.” He opined that the IronPigs have Rochester’s “number.” He lamented the errors and mistakes the Red Wings made and said they need to “flush it.”
His club remains in first place, but LeCroy is not resting on the nine-game win streak it amassed last week.
“Just not a good ballgame,” he remarked.
The Rochester Red Wings did not repeat Thursday’s 10-run performance, tallying just a pair of runs on a Lucius Fox home run and going scoreless over the final seven innings. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, however, one-upped Thursday’s nine-run output. The ‘Pigs commanded the action, prevailing 10-2 in front of 7,831 fans.
Rochester appeared primed to answer the IronPigs like they have so many squads who jump ahead early. After Nick Maton drilled a home run to right field that carried an estimated 440 feet in the top of the second, securing a 2-0 lead, Fox launched a two-run homer of his own in the bottom of the frame.
The Wings’ bats did not execute after that, hitting into three double plays. Their gloves were not golden, either; Fox and Josh Palacios each committed errors, their second consecutive game with an error, while a ball that should have been caught dropped into left untouched to score another run.
“We’re better than what we showed tonight,” LeCroy acknowledged. “We’ve gotta come back, get back to work tomorrow and address some of those things, and hopefully salvage this series.”
Sterling Sharp took his first loss of the season, yielding three earned runs in the fourth. Sharp did, however, show his toughness, not only striking out seven batters but remaining in the game after taking a Dustin Peterson line drive off the foot. Maton’s homer was only the third the sinkerballer has allowed in 24 innings, indicating a miss in location.
“He just didn’t make pitches when he needed to make them, and they took advantage of them,” LeCroy assessed. “He had a lot of balls in the air. … When he’s good, they’re on the ground. But he fought; he competed, even after giving up a line drive off his foot. He just didn’t execute at times, but it’s baseball; you’ve gotta tip your cap. This team, they’re playing pretty well, hitting the ball well. The mistakes we make, they’re hammering them. We’ve just gotta make better pitches that keep us in the ballgame.”
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Jake Noll walked twice, while Taylor Gushue and Tres Barrera each recorded a single and walked, joining Fox as the only four Wings to reach base on multiple occasions.
Even after Thursday’s production, Rochester has just 18 runs through the first four games of this week after tallying 23 through the first four in Worcester.
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