BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings opened their series with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a familiar face returning to take the mound for a rehab start: Cade Cavalli.
His stay would prove shorter than expected, however, as he went only two innings before leaving down 3-0 after just two of what was originally supposed to be six innings. With heavy winds whipping through Innovative Field through much of the night, the IronPigs (20-8) battered the Red Wings (6-21) the rest of the way en route to a 19-1 victory that ended in the eighth inning after heavy rains rolled in and brought an early finish.
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Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy says Cavalli’s early exit wasn’t due to any performance issues, despite giving up a three-run home run to Oscar Mercado in the third.
“He was a little bit fatigued, and we all felt it was the right move to not let him go back out for the third,” said LeCroy. “He’d had a long first inning, and the second inning wasn’t so short, either. So I think the right thing was to let him take his breather and reevaluate the rest of his rehab. We’ll probably have more answers tomorrow or the next day.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to deviate from the plan. The weather was warm, and [the IronPigs] worked him a bit- they fouled many pitches off. He just hadn’t worked that hard yet and got a little fatigued.”
A 6’4″ righty from Oklahoma who once starred for his home state’s Sooners, is returning from an injury that delayed his major league career almost as soon as it began.
Once a top-100 prospect and one of the first major prospects to come through Rochester during the Nationals era, Cavalli pitched in 26 games for the Wings in 2021 and 2022, including going 6-4 with a 3.71 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 2022 before getting a callup to make his MLB debut for Washington late that season. The following March, however, Cavalli hurt his UCL during spring training, forcing a Tommy John Surgery that took him out of all of the last two seasons.
He looked like the vintage Cavalli in the first inning, striking out two as part of a scoreless inning only blemished by a walk to Otto Kemp and a balk brought about by throwing to first too many times. However, he struggled in the second, allowing a single by Garrett Stubbs through the right side before hitting Buddy Kennedy with a pitch. Oscar Mercado then got hold of a 0-1 95.9 MPH fastball and walloped it over the center field fence to give Lehigh Valley the 3-0 lead. Cavalli escaped the rest of the inning thanks to a flyout and a double play, but that would ultimately be the end of his day.
Cavalli ultimately went two innings, allowing three hits, three earned runs, a walk, and two strikeouts. He threw 36 pitches, 24 of them for strikes.
The rest of the game was all Lehigh Valley, as the Phillies’ AAA affiliate drove in 16 more runs, including seven in a fifth-inning that saw the IronPigs hit two home runs and a bases-loaded triple from Rafael Lantigua. The IronPigs ultimately finished the night with six home runs. The lone Red Wings run came in the bottom of the fourth when Andrew Pinckney led off with a solo home run against Lehigh starter Mick Abel.
LeCroy was blunt on the ultimate score of the game:
“My mom and daddy, they used to call that a good old-fashioned butt-whooping,” he said. “[Lehigh Valley] has a great team over there. They have some young players that I really like and a good veteran group that are hungry. They’ve had our number, and we didn’t have a shot at them all night.”
To add injury to insult, Cavalli wouldn’t be the only Red Wings player to leave early- reliever Tyler Schoff left in the seventh. LeCroy says that Schoff felt something off with his back and will be reevaluated tomorrow.
The Red Wings, who have now lost three straight, look to bounce back on Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. in the second game of the series with Lehigh Valley. Righty Seth Shuman (0-1, 8.31) is set to make his Innovative Field debut against Lehigh righty Nabil Crismatt (3-1, 2.67).
There are few words to describe this team so far. They have dropped 21, 10 of which have been complete blowouts. They have been blanked 4 times. Even in close 1 run games they have lost 6. Don’t know what Washington thinks they have here.
Totally sad.