By Dan Glickman
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Baseball is a game of opportunities. On Thursday, in a rare morning game, the Rochester Red Wings missed some key ones, sending them down in defeat to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 8-1. An early defensive misplay gave the IronPigs two extra runs, while a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position knee-capped any attempts to come back.
Justin Crawford led off the game with a double to left off Red Wings starter Andry Lara, then came home on a seeing-eye single through the left side from third baseman Otto Kemp.
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Kemp stole second during Brandon Marsh‘s at-bat, but was held there as Marsh flew out and Gabriel Rincones Jr. popped out. As second baseman Christian Arroyo sent a fly ball to left, it appeared that the Wings would escape the top of the first down only one.
However, as left fielder Andrew Pinckney and center fielder Robert Hassell III converged, neither made the catch. The ball fell between the two outfielders, allowing Arroyo to speed to second while Kemp came around to score to make it 2-0.
“It was a miscommunication,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy post-game. “That’s a mistake that happened, but hopefully it won’t happen [again].”
The mistake allowed the inning to continue, giving Garrett Stubbs the opportunity to bring Arroyo home and extend the lead to 3-0. They’d add another run in the second on an Otto Kemp single to go up 4-0.
The Wings scraped back a run in the second when Pinckney hit a ground-rule double before coming home on a Hassell single to cut the lead to 4-1, but that’d prove all the Wings could get all day. It wasn’t for lack of trying: the Red Wings recorded 10 hits on the day, just one less than Lehigh Valley. However, the squad went 1-for-6 with men in scoring position, and stranded 10 runners on the basepaths. The Wings had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, for example, only to fail to score any runs.
Lehigh Valley added four more runs by the end of the game, but it could have been worse. Chase Solesky came in for an injured Lara in the second and went 5.2 innings of three-hit ball against one of the International League’s top offenses, allowing two earned runs- a solo shot from a rehabbing Brandon Marsh in the fifth and a sacrifice fly from Buddy Kennedy in the sixth- while striking out four. With Lara’s injury, LeCroy credited Solesky for a job well-done.
“He pitched five-plus innings and only gave up a couple of runs,” he said. “He’s got value. He’s got to be the guy that can eat up some innings for us. He’s a fighter, a competitor, and he did a really nice job of saving us some innings.”
Lara, who left in the second after indicating some discomfort with one of his hamstrings, will be reevaluated Friday. He’s just the latest Red Wing pitcher to fall prey to injury, with reliever Daison Acosta recently entering the injured list, a recent injury that left Tyler Schoff day-to-day, and an early exit for a rehabbing Cade Cavalli that will cause him to miss his next start.
However, Rochester will be able to give its usual rotation a rest as it continues its series with Lehigh Valley on Friday at 6:05 p.m. Nationals starter and 2019 All-Star Michael Soroka will take to the mound for the Red Wings as he works his way back from a bicep injury. Lehigh Valley will send out right-hander Alan Rangel (2-0, 4.55).
“I got an e-mail saying he’ll pitch,” said LeCroy of Soroka, a Canadian right-hander who saw a promising career with Atlanta get sidetracked by a series of injuries before playing last season with the Chicago White Sox. “And it looks like he’ll hopefully go as long as he wants to go.”
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