By MIKE ROSE
Syracuse, NY — The Rochester Red Wings (36-33) dropped their second straight game Wednesday, falling to the Syracuse Mets (44-26), 8-2. Syracuse broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth when Rhylan Thomas scored on a balk from Adonis Medina. From there the Mets pushed across five more runs against the Red Wings bullpen including a four-run eighth inning to blow the game open.
The newest headliner in the Red Wings lineup, Dylan Crews, recorded his first Triple-A hit in the loss. He delivered his first hit in style with an opposite-field solo home run in the third inning that started the scoring for Rochester. The Nationals No. 2 ranked prospect and the No. 6 prospect in baseball was called up ahead of Tuesday’s series opener after hitting .274 with five home runs, 26 runs scored and 38 RBI in 51 games for Double-A Harrisburg. The second overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft out of LSU finished the night 1-for-5 with the home run and has started 1-for-10 in two games for the Red Wings thus far in his first look at Triple-A.
Syracuse jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Thaddeus Ward before Crews got the Red Wings on the board in the third. Rochester eventually tied the game later that inning. Darren Baker lined a base hit and swiped second before Harold Ramirez drove him in with an RBI single. That would be the end of the scoring for the Red Wings who mustered three hits the rest of the night. Syracuse used the long ball to push the game out of reach with a solo home run from Mike Brosseau and a two-run shot from Brett Baty finishing the night off.
Ramirez continued his strong showing at the plate for the Red Wings finishing the night 2-for-2 with a walk. Ramirez is expected to join the Nationals soon as he puts the finishing touches on getting back into game shape following being designated for assignment and then released by the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said last week that the Nationals did not plan for Ramirez’s stint with Rochester to last beyond this week.
Baker also recorded two hits and stole a pair of bases for the Red Wings. Baker is now tied with Syracuse’s Luisangel Acuña for second in the International League with 24 stolen bases after Acuña stole one base on Wednesday. Juan Yepez recorded two hits and Jackson Cluff also had a hit to round out the eight-hit effort by the Red Wings.
Rochester’s other prized outfield prospect was out of the lineup in Wednesday’s loss. As was planned, James Wood sat out after being activated from the injured list Tuesday. Wood is expected to return to the lineup and join Crews in the outfield again on Thursday.
Rochester will look to get on the board in the series Thursday when they face off again with the Mets. Joan Adon (3-5, 5.90) is expected to get the start for the Red Wings while Syracuse’s starter is yet to be announced.
It will be exciting to see Crews and Wood in the same lineup, for however long the Gnats will allow.
Back to reality: after a great finish to the SWB series, Wings have now allowed 20 runs in the first two games
of the Syracuse series, which will end the 1st half. If the Wings get swept they will end the half under .500.
First two games have been total no-shows for Rochester. Pitching, pitching, pitching..or lack thereof continues to plague the 2024 Red Wings. Starters and relievers share equally in the failures. The good efforts have allowed the team to at least stay above .500, but the poor efforts have cost the Wings many games that were patently winnable.
Hopefully Wings can figure out how to win at least one of these final 6 games to insure a ‘winning’ first half. Can Washington find some decent arms in their farm system? Everybody starts off 0-0 again next week. This reset gives Rochester some hope for better things provided they can find anything close to a pitching staff.