BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y.– When you’re hot, you’re hot.
Rochester continued its streak with a fifth win in a row and eighth in the last nine games as the Red Wings defeated thruway rival Syracuse 4-3 Thursday evening in the Battle of the Dishes.
“We are doing a lot of team things to help us win some ball games and our team is coming together,” Red Wings Matt LeCroy stated about the recent winning. “We got our lineup starting to become a little bit more stable and secure and not a lot of movement. Overall, we just gotta ride it out and hopefully continue the streak.”
The key to Rochester’s success is they are getting run support up and down the lineup including the bottom three hitters led by Travis Blankenhorn and Richie Martin.
“When you look at Blankenhorn on our club and he’s in the seven-hole, that’s a pretty deep lineup for Triple-A,” LeCroy stated about his bottom three hitters. “Then you add Richie Martin as a nine-hole hitter. That’s pretty good. Richie is a hard worker and he plays the game the right way. We’re gonna try to stay as even keel as we can, but we need to keep putting the pressure on our opponents and come up with some wins.”
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Blankenhorn has been everywhere in the Red Wings lineup this season and he has been able to find success wherever he is in the lineup any given night. The left-hander went 2-for-4 with two RBI and extended his on-base streak to 19 games.
“The last at-bat was against a tough lefty and I was just trying to battle and I got the 3-2 and tried to put a finish on it and not chase one,” Blankenhorn about his approach on the decisive run.
Blankenhorn tied the game for Rochester with an RBI base hit that brought around Nomar Mazara to score, who led off the inning with a walk. The left fielder then tallied another RBI base hit in the eighth to give the Red Wings an insurance run. Cody Wilson came around to score what became the decisive run of the ballgame after he got into scoring position by drawing a balk from Met’s pitcher T.J. McFarland.
“I think anytime he [Cody Wilson] gets on base, he’s a threat,” Blankenhorn talking about Wilson’s impact on the bases. “I think he’s a threat every time he’s out there.”
Martin showed off his power with his first home run as Red Wing and his first long ball since Spetember 13, 2022 when he was a member of the Norfolk Tides. The right-hander crushed a 3-2 pitch to lead-off the fifth inning to left field to give Rochester a 2-1 lead at the time. Martin then showed off his speed the following at-bat in the seventh inning as he turned a one-out walk into the go-ahead run after he swiped second and then came around to score on a Jake Alu fielder’s choice.
“I saw a lot of pitches my first at-bat, so I was trying to get a pitch and I got a good fastball and stayed with my approach,” Martin on his first home run as a Red Wing.
“It has to be a part of my game,” Martin on the speed aspect of his game. “I’m trying to read the pitcher and see certain tendencies and see if I can move up an extra 90 feet.”
Cory Abbott got the start for Rochester and pitched five strong innings only giving up one run and one hit while striking out six and walking five Mets. After Abbott exited the game, Hobie Harris, Jose Mujica, Gerson Moreno, and Jordan Weems secured the Rochester victory by pitching the last four innings and giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking four.
The Mets were aided by the long ball for most of their runs on Thursday. Michael Perez opened the contest’s scoring with a two-out solo home run to right center field to give the Mets the lead in the third inning. Luis Guillorme hit his own lead-off home run in the sixth inning to tie the game at two. The two long balls ended a season-long streak of seven games of not giving up a home run for Rochester. Lorenzo Cedrola scored in the ninth on a double-play to make it a one-run ballgame.
Rochester will look for the series win on Friday. The Wings will send right-hander Wily Peralta (1-4, 6.11) to the mound while the Mets will have left-hander David Peterson (1-1, 4.08) get the start on the bump. A 6:45 PM first pitch is scheduled.
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