By Dan Glickman
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – On a windy Thursday, the Rochester Red Wings were frustrated by a lack of clutch hitting and some ill-timed errors, going down on both ends of a doubleheader- 8-1 in the first game and then 3-1 in the second.
The doubleheader, made necessary due to inclement weather on Wednesday, saw the Red Wings (2-3) commit four errors while stranding 13, going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position across the two seven-inning games.
“We just didn’t hit very much off the barrel,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “We had a lot of soft contact; the offense just didn’t put up much of a fight. And then our game got sloppy; some poor defense carried over to game two. We pitched well enough but didn’t do enough offense for [the pitchers], and the errors killed us.”
The Red Wings had committed only one error in the three games they’d played before Thursday.
“You gotta catch the ball, you can’t give people extra outs… when you give them extra outs, you usually get burnt.”
Much of the first game was a close affair until Lehigh Valley broke it open in the seventh.
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Hyun-il Choi, making his first Nationals’ organization start since being selected from the Los Angeles Dodgers system in the most recent Rule 5 draft, pitched a clean first and escaped the second thanks to a double-play, but ran into trouble come the third. After a lead-off walk of shortstop Rafael Lantigua, Lehigh Valley knocked back-to-back singles from first baseman Carson Taylor and left fielder Justin Crawford, with Crawford’s single to right bringing in Lantigua to give the IronPigs an opening 1-0 lead. After striking out the next two, Choi was ambushed by former big leaguer Christian Arroyo, who powered a ball deep into center field, landing beyond the reach of Rochester’s Robert Hassell III. Arroyo ended up at second standing up with a two-RBI double, upping the Lehigh lead to 3-0.
The Red Wings had opportunities to come back, putting men on base in the game’s first five innings. What they weren’t able to do, however, was get a run across. Despite racking up six hits, taking advantage of an error, and getting a man on by hit-by-pitch, the Red Wings’ lone score of the game came on a solo shot from third baseman Brady House in the fifth, a 428-foot shot to center off an 80.1 MPH slider left in the middle by Lehigh starter Kyle Tyler. The first home run of the season for the Nationals’ No. 3 prospect, according to MLB.com Pipeline, cut the lead to 3-1.
It wouldn’t be enough, as two errors by shortstop Nasim Nunez and two Lehigh hits- including a bases-clearing triple from Gabriel Rincones Jr.– gave the IronPigs a five-run seventh, bringing about the 8-1 final.
Nunez ultimately had three errors on the day- his two in the seventh inning of game one and then another in the second game. Nunez played little last season in Washington after being selected in the Rule 5 draft, and LeCroy says that part of his time in Rochester this season aims to kick off that rust.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some things that happen along the way,” said LeCroy. “But that’s part of our job as coaches, making sure to address it so it doesn’t happen when they go to the big leagues.”
The second game began with a back-and-forth first inning. With two outs, Lehigh left fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. grabbed hold of a curveball from Chase Solesky and deposited it 414 feet away, over the center field fence, to give the IronPigs a 1-0 lead.
Rochester struck back in the bottom half, with Hassell leading off with a single before advancing to second on a balk. Darren Baker and Brady House were both set down, but on an 0-2 count, designated hitter Franchy Cordero got a piece of a changeup from Alan Rangel. Cordero’s shot to center fell just out of the reach of Phillies No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford and rolled further into center, allowing Hassell to come around with the scoring run on Cordero’s two-out double.
The Red Wings were never able to score again. The IronPigs, however, took advantage of a fielding issue to pull ahead, 2-1, in the fourth when first baseman Trey Lipscomb dropped a throw from short that would have been the third out. A triple by Stevenson in the fifth brought in the game’s final run to make it 3-1.
Rochester continues its series with Lehigh Valley on Friday at 6:05 P.M. Left-hander Andrew Alvarez (0-0, 0.00) takes the mound for the Wings against Lehigh right-hander Seth Johnson (1-0, 0.00).
Alvarez did well in his first start of the season, on opening day in Buffalo, when he threw five innings of two-hit ball while striking out six and allowing an earned run. It’s a performance that LeCroy wants to see a repeat of.
“I hope he does what he did in Buffalo,” says LeCroy. “Hopefully we can push him with six good innings.”
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