BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Utilityman Eddy Alvarez of the Worcester Red Sox is perhaps best known to baseball fanatics for being the answer to some trivia questions. He’s one of the only people to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics, having earned a silver in short-track speed-skating in Sochi in 2014 and notching a silver in baseball in Tokyo 2020/21. He’s also one of only two MLB players to make their debut in the big leagues after winning an Olympic medal in a sport other than baseball (the other is Jim Thorpe, considered by some the greatest athlete who ever lived).
On Saturday night, however, he was one thing to the Rochester Red Wings: big trouble. The 34-year-old from Miami hit three home runs, including a first-inning grand slam, and drove in six runs as Rochester (72-63 overall, 34-28 in the second half, 6.5 games back) fell to their International League East rivals, 12-2.
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Alvarez is the first to hit three home runs against the Red Wings since Kody Clemens hit three long-balls on August 10 of 2023. Playing left field and batting fifth, he hit a towering 423-foot grand slam in the first, followed by solo shots in the third and sixth. He nearly had an opportunity for a historic fourth home run, as he got good wood on a seventh inning slider from Ty Tice and sent it rocketing 98.1 MPH to center… where it landed safely in the glove of a running Robert Hassell III. Had he sent it 10 or 20 feet further, he would have become the first International League player since 2011 to hit four home runs in a single game and the first ever in the history of the Worcester/Pawtucket Red Sox (70-66 overall, 35-26 in the second half, five games back).
“He’s having a really good year,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “You can’t make mistakes (against him), he’s a smaller guy, but he’s strong, he’s quick, and we missed our spots and he took advantage of it. You’ve got to tip your cap, he did a nice job and a nice game.”
Rochester’s troubles on the night went well beyond Alvarez, however. The pitching staff allowed 12 walks, tying for the most on the season, and also gave up home runs to third baseman Jamie Westbrook and first baseman Bobby Dalbec. It was the first time since at least 2004 that the Red Wings allowed five home runs and walked at least 10 men. The pitching problems started early with Brad Lord, one of the best pitchers in the Nationals’ system this season. Coming off a three-week layoff on the injured list after getting hit by a line drive in Syracuse, the usually-steady right-hander had his worst start of the season, allowing five runs on three hits and three walks, including Alvarez’s grand slam in the first. Although LeCroy hoped he’d be able to get through four or five innings in his first start back, he ultimately only went two.
LeCroy believes that the South Florida alum will be back to his old self once he shakes off the rust.
“I hate it for him, it just one of those things,” said LeCroy. “You don’t really have a rehab place here right now, like they do in the big leagues, and unfortunately he was just off..”
“I know he’ll be better next time, he’s having a good season.”
By the end of the game, position player Jake Alu was brought in from left to face the final batters of the top of the ninth. He got the last two batters out to become the lone Red Wings pitcher on the night not to allow a run, striking out Worcester center fielder Tyler McDonough to end the ninth. Alu was also one of the bright spots for the Wings at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Shortstop Jack Dunn also had two hits on the night including a double, while second baseman Jackson Cluff went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
The Red Wings have now lost six of their last 10 games and fallen to third in the division and sixth in the league for the second half. They have lost several of their best players, including Dylan Crews and Darren Baker, to big league callups. Travis Blankenhorn, a veteran presence and the team leader in home runs, is in limbo after being designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals late last week to create a spot on the 40-man roster, although LeCroy believes more will be known about the slugger’s status in the next few days.
Despite the challenges, LeCroy has told the players they still must continue to play their best down the string, both for the team and for themselves.
“I met with the team after the game just to let them know that they’ve got to continue to fight,” said LeCroy. “We’ve got 13 games left, and anything can happen. But for me, it was just to make sure that we play with an edge, play with some confidence. We have lost people, now you got to go out and prove to people that you have the ability to step in and play and help us win games. That’s the good thing about losing people to the big leagues: somebody else gets a chance to step in and get an opportunity.”
“It’s up to you whether or not you make the most of it.”
The Red Wings and Red Sox complete their series on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., with Rochester sending out righty Tyler Stuart (1-1, 6.39) against Worcester’s right-hander Justin Hagenman (4-6, 5.17).
Wings have fallen apart totally. Sunday they managed to tie in the 9th only to quickly allow 3 in the 10th to lose 9-7. That means 5 losses in the 6 games and the pitching was horrendous.
Thus the nice little run they had 2nd half predictably ends in September with a resounding thud. Yes, the pitching has been awful all year but the Gnats have destroyed our offense, leaving us with, well not much.
I guess two schools of thought here. Gnats are totally out of it so this is a good time to audition their top or near the top prospects. Or, they are totally out of it and wish to at least have something good come out of the organization. Winning is always better than losing, so a AAA championship isn’t exactly chopped liver.
Except clearly it is. Means absolutely nothing. The irrelevance of AAA over the past several years has never been more obvious. And I suppose anyone reading these articles and my comments may be sick of them….but I hope that there are still a few out there that care about the Red Wings and agree with my rants. Some of us actually DO care whether we bring a winner to Rochester. We still go to games to see the team win. While its hard to develop close feelings about the players, because just as soon as they perform well for one month, they are gone in many cases, we still cheer the uniform and the hard work our staff puts into making the games fun to attend. Certainly a lot has changed since a very young Dan Mason took over the GM role.
Well, that last homestand was ugly and with just 12 games remaining, the season is really over. Maybe we’ll get some decent weather for the final homestand next week and then it on to the offseason, unfulfilled as usual for another year.