The Rochester Red Wings dropped their third straight on Thursday, as a furious rally from a 7-0 deficit fell short in an 8-6 loss to the Worcester Red Sox.
“Things are just not going our way right now, but it’s not because of lack of work or lack of preparation or fight,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “These boys are fighting but a lot of times when you’re down that much early it’s really really tough to come back, especially with this level.”
The initial deficit almost didn’t happen at all. In three straight innings, the Red Wings were just one out away from escaping an inning without giving up any runs. All three times, however, they found themselves falling further behind because of a Worcester Red Sox long-ball. With a three-run Deivy Grullon shot in the second, a two-run Pedro Castellanos drive in the third, and a two-run Devlin Granberg home run in the fourth, the Wings quickly found themselves in a 7-0 midgame hole.
Rehabbing Nationals left-hander Josh Rogers, wearing a Rochester uniform for the first time since last season, went 3.2 innings in the start, striking out two while allowing seven earned runs. While Rogers only gave up four hits, three of them were the home runs that gave Worcester the lead.
On the flip-side, Worcester’s Chris Murphy made an excellent impression for most of his first AAA start, facing the minimum through the first five innings thanks to some well-timed double plays. He didn’t allow a Red Wing to reach scoring position until the sixth, and even then would end the inning without allowing a run.
It seemed like the Red Wings were heading towards a blow-out loss. But then came the seventh inning. Ildemaro Vargas led off with a single, and then Joey Meneses reached after an error by Worcester third baseman Grant Williams that could have been a double-play if fielded cleanly. Then the runs began, as Josh Palacios, Jake Noll, and Taylor Gushue all hit RBI doubles one-after-another to make the game 7-4. By this point, Murphy had been pulled after six-plus innings of five-hit ball, giving up three earned runs in the process.
It was then, with still nobody out, that Nick Banks stepped to the plate and hit his fifth home run of the year, driving in Gushue and making it 7-6.
Sadly for the 6,576 Red Wings fans in attendance, those would be the final runs of the game for Rochester. A single bad pitch by Jefry Rodriguez in an impressive 4.1 innings of relief allowed Worcester’s Johan Mieses to hit a solo shot in the 8th to make it 8-6, and the Red Wings were never able to get on the board in the final two innings.
“You just gotta take it one at-bat at a time,” said Banks of the rally. “Take the balls, hit the strikes, and I think that’s what we did really well that inning. We just couldn’t do it consistently throughout the game, but that inning put us in a spot to take the lead or tie it.”
“We’re just in a rough patch, but we’ll hit our stride again.”
The loss Thursday puts the Red Wings further back in the International League East race, at least temporarily, to 2 games behind Buffalo, although where they will end up at the end of the day will depend on the results of night games in the league.
Despite the loss, LeCroy had only praise for the team’s fight post-game.
“[I’m] still proud of the guys, the way they fight, you know that’s just what this team’s made of, we just got to get back on the winning side of it,” he said.
The Red Wings return to action against Worcester on Friday night at 7:05. Cory Abbott is scheduled to take the mound.
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