BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Brady House‘s two-home run game powered the Rochester Red Wings past the Syracuse Mets 4-2 in the second game of the Battle of the Dishes Thursday evening.
”Brady House was the story of the game,” Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said. “He had a two-run home run to put us up in the first and then to break the tie. After they scored, we responded with a homer. It was a big homer for us and I think that turned the momentum right back around, which was big.”
House’s first long ball came in the first inning to give Rochester a 2-0 lead. House took the first pitch he saw and launched the ball 366 feet into the Syracuse bullpen. The right hand hitter drove in Darren Baker who doubled with one out in the inning.
”That was awesome,” House said. “Whenever you have a runner on second, all you have to try to do is just hit it to the right side and you get the job done.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
After Syracuse tied the ballgame on a two-run double from Drew Gilbert in the sixth inning, House connected again in the bottom half of the inning, as he took a lead-off 2-0 count and hit the ball 407 feet straight at the main scoreboard in left center field.
”I tried to just get on base, so someone could get me over,” House said.
“He’s got talent and skill to do that and that’s why for me, he’s got a chance to be an impactful big leaguer,” LeCroy said.
The Winder, Georgia native has been the hottest hitter for Rochester through the first games of the series. House has gone 6-for-13 so far with three long balls, three doubles, seven RBI and five runs scored.
”He’s going to be an impact bat,” LeCroy said. “He made some really good plays on defense. I’m really excited with his progress at this level.”
Dylan Crews gave Rochester an insurance run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly RBI that scored Jake Alu, who led off the inning with a walk and reached third via a stolen base and throwing error on the Syracuse catcher.
Spenser Watkins got the start for Rochester, but left the game in the third inning after some discomfort. Watkins was strong through his two innings of work where he didn’t surrender a run on one hit and one walk and fanned one Syracuse batter.
”It was kind of a spasm type thing,” LeCroy said. “I don’t think it’s going to be anything that we have to worry about. I just felt like it was the right thing. He wanted to stay in the game.”
The Rochester bullpen was able to carry the load for the rest of the game with a solid seven innings of relief. The bullpen combined for six strikeouts while giving up two runs on four hits and three walks.
”I’m super proud of how we did it,” LeCroy said. “They picked their starter up. That’s why we have a team and for those guys to come up and pick up those innings.”
Rochester is currently atop of the International East Division and only trail the Columbus Clippers by three and half games. The Red Wings are looking to get back to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. Rochester has just over a month of baseball remaining to achieve that goal.
”You got to win,” LeCroy said. “You got to go 1-0 every day. That’s the model they use in the big leagues. We got to try to go 1-0 every day and if we do that with the guys we have here right now, I think we can make a push to put some pressure on teams that are in front of us to play better than we did.”
The Rochester Red Wings (25-17, 63-52) and Syracuse Mets (18-23, 64-51) will continue their series on Friday at 6:45 p.m. as Rochester will send southpaw Andrew Alvarez (2-3, 4.89) to the mound while righty Blade Tidwell (0-5, 5.87) will toe the slab for Syracuse.
Red Wings continue to tease us. They lead their division…which in itself is a minor miracle. But they trail Columbus by 3 with a little more than 30 left to play. They don’t play the Clippers. Can they catch them?
Not if they keep going 3-3 every series. But perhaps a sweep of Syracuse might get them back in it. Columbus also needs to lose a bit more.
Anything is possible. I never thought the Wings would still be competitive this late, so thats a huge plus. I’d love to see Blankenhorn finish up with us. He hasn’t excelled in DC and Gallo needs to go back up, right? I’ll take Blankenhorn over Gallo anyday ending in ‘y’!
All we can do now is keep moving the chains, as they say.