BY DAN GLICKMAN
As the Rochester Red Wings and the season-high 11,556 fans in attendance understand all too well after Saturday’s 5-4 loss, a baseball game is, as we all know, nine innings. A bad start doesn’t mean you will lose, but neither does a good middle. In the end, it’s how you finish. And the game finished with the Jacksonville bullpen doing what Rochester’s bullpen could not: stop its opponent.
“It’s kind of been our season,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “We’re down early, [fight] back, take the lead, but [aren’t] able to hold it.”
Down one with one out in the ninth inning after a two-run eighth had allowed the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to take the lead, the Red Wings had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate. Daylen Lile, who’d already driven in three runs, came up to the plate against Jacksonville’s Declan Cronin and worked a 10 pitch at-bat. On the tenth pitch, however, he brought his bat forward on a ball outside. It appeared to many that he had checked his swing in time, but home plate umpire Trevor Dannegger disagreed, and without checking with any of the other umpires ruled it a strikeout. LeCroy came storming out of the dugout and was swiftly tossed from the game- his second ejection of the series.
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“I didn’t think [Lile] went,” said LeCroy post-game. “And if he did, he (Dannegger) should have checked, all night long, we’d been questioning check swings. But for some reason, Trevor chose to just go ahead and ring him up without checking. I was just trying to stick up for my player in a big spot. I thought it was the wrong call and at the wrong time at that point of the game.”
The Red Wings still had one out left, and Darren Baker drew a walk to put the winning run on base with the team’s best hitter, Brady House, coming to bat. Jacksonville responded by bringing in Matt Pushard, who hadn’t given up a hit since June 4, to face him. Pushard extended his hitless streak by striking out the Nationals’ No. 3 prospect to end the game.
The failed comeback in the ninth concluded what had been a back-and-forth contest.
In the first inning of Saturday’s game, some fans likely felt like the game was already lost. Cade Cavalli, the top pitching prospect on the Red Wings roster, walked the first three men he faced. Then he hit Jacksonville third baseman Graham Pauley with a pitch, bringing in a run to give the Marlins affiliate a 1-0 lead. Although Cavalli struck out the next batter, a single from Dalvy Rosario and a bases-loaded walk to Maximo Acosta extended Jacksonville’s lead to 3-0 before Cavalli escaped thanks to a double play.
Things took a more positive turn for the Wings after that. Red Wings catcher Drew Millas drew a leadoff walk in the second and later scored alongside Andrew Pinckney on a Lile line drive single with two outs later in the inning to cut the Jumbo Shrimp lead to 3-2. A Millas RBI double in the third tied the game at three, and a sacrifice fly from Lile in the fourth put the Wings ahead, 4-3.
Despite chances, the Red Wings never scored again. And while Cavalli settled down to go 3.2 innings of 2-hit ball before giving way to perfect showings from Konnor Pilkington and Patrick Weigel followed by a scoreless inning from Jack Sinclair, eventually the bullpen’s luck ran out: Parker Dunshee gave up a lead-off home run in the eighth by Graham Pauley to tie the game at 4, and Jacksonville later moved ahead on a Maximo Acosta double.
The loss, Rochester’s 11th straight, sends them to 22-44 on the season, while the Jumbo Shrimp are 42-26, three games back of Lehigh Valley for the first-half title.
The Red Wings look to avoid the series sweep on Sunday when they host Jacksonville at 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Seth Shuman (1-4, 7.74 ERA) takes the mound for the Wings. The special Father’s Day game will include an appearance and autograph session by legendary player and manager Dusty Baker, who will sign from 11:30 a.m. through 12:30 a.m., as well as a baseball giveaway and a postgame catch on the field for the dads in attendance.
Dusty’s appearance comes a day after his son, Darren, moved into a tie for fourth in Red Wings history with his 71st career stolen base when he swiped a bag in the first.
When you’re cold, you’re cold. While pitching, especially the bullpen has been one big huge miserable fail from the very beginning, the usually more reliable hitting is also flopping now. For two nights in a row our best hitter, House came up with a chance to turn the game late and he hit into a killer DP Friday and struck out yesterday.
For the 2nd straight game the pen gave up a leadoff solo HR late to begin a rally for the Shrimp. Its wash, rinse, repeat.
You have to work hard to lose 11 straight games. Wings however drew a couple of huge crowds for this homestand which is a tribute to the Red Wing faithful who still come out to watch baseball despite the terrible team. Still doesn’t take away the fact that this is one of the worst teams in franchise history