BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings (20-27, 47-72) were bitten by the long ball for a second straight night as they fell to the Toledo Mud Hens (29-18, 68-54) 7-4 Wednesday night.
”It’s a tough one,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. “It’s been our Achilles heel all year, where we have had leads and weren’t able to hang on to them.”
Rochester controlled the first half of the ballgame as they received a strong outing from Andrew Alvarez where he blanked Toledo for five innings. Alvarez set the Mud Hens down in order three times during his outing as he gave the Red Wings nearly six innings on the mound with seven strikeouts.
”He’s had a solid year,” LeCroy said. “He’s been putting himself in good situations for something really good to happen for him. Hopefully he continues to throw the ball well. His changeup has been a really good pitch for him.”
The southpaw left game with the Red Wings up 3-0 in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded.
”That third time through the lineup, he couldn’t get that final out,” LeCroy said.
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Eduardo Valencia three pitches later flipped the game around for Toledo with a two-out grand slam out to left center field.
”We got to be better in those situations,” LeCroy said. “We fell a couple pitches behind and laid a ball down the middle and it got hammered.”
Trey Lipscomb did tie it up for Rochester with some help from defensive mishaps from Toledo. Lipscomb reached base via a fielder’s choice and was able to make it to the second on an error on the same sequence. The Red Wing left fielder was awarded third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.
”That’s what we’ve done all year,” LeCroy said. “We’ve have had some tough innings, and we’ve come back on offense and fought our way back to tying it or taking the lead.”
Valencia took the sail out of the Red Wings sail two innings later with is second long ball of the contest as he blasted a three-run round tripper over the scoreboard in left field.
”He was deadly,” LeCroy said. “You had one guy drive in all seven of their runs and that was the game.”
In the first two games of the series, Rochester’s pitching staff has surrendered seven long balls and 21 runs to Toledo. The Mud Hens have taken advantage of the Red Wings bullpen specifically who have given up six of the seven homers.
”You don’t want to give up the long ball,” LeCroy said. “You have to come back and fight more and do whatever you can to put up zeroes.”
Lipscomb, Yohandy Morales and Nick Schnell drove in the Red Wings first three runs of the ballgame. Morales hit a first inning two out solo home run down the right field line. Lipscomb drove in Morales in the fourth with his third RBI double of the series, while Schnell drove in Nasim Nunez on a groundout in the fifth.
The Rochester Red Wings and Toledo Mud Hens continue their series on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. as Rochester will send righty Bryce Conley (2-2, 4.60) while Toledo will have right-hander Troy Watson (2-0, 1.31) toe the slab.
Its rare for one hitter to deliver all 7 runs in a game…but there was nothing cheap about either HR. Once again, Wings pitchers failed to hold a decent lead and then keep the team in the game once it was tied.
Pitching, pitching, pitching. Either can’t throw strikes or throw strikes like the ball was put on a tee. If Washington doesn’t fix their pitching organizationally 2026 will be just as ugly as 2025 has been. Wings pitching hasn’t just been bad, it has been VERY bad, bordering on laughable.
And the season marches on.