BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings finished their two-week home stand… eventually. After a relatively uneventful first inning, the heavens opened up, bringing a veritable monsoon of rain to the series finale with the Toledo Mud Hens into delay. Once the skies cleared, the tarp was removed, and a slight-more-than-an-hour-long delay came to an end, the Red Wings perhaps wished it had rained a bit harder, as they ended up falling to Toledo, 13-4.
“We’ve got to flush it and get on the plane tomorrow,” Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said post-game.
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Like many games this season, the Red Wings’ (48-75, 21-30 in the second half) were done in by their bullpen. A day after manager LeCroy mentioned that the relief corps had been the team’s Achilles’ heel for much of the year, it proved so again, allowing 12 runs, most notably in a four-run top of the fourth immediately after Red Wings starter Riley Cornelio left what was at the time a 1-1 game. Andry Lara gave up three straight singles to begin the inning, and then walked Eduardo Valencia to bring in the go-ahead run and make it 2-1 for Toledo (71-55, 32-19 in the second half). Worse, Lara then balked, bringing in another run to extend Toledo’s lead to 3-1. Hao-Yu Lee later singled to center to drive in two more runs and up the Mud Hen lead to four, 5-1.
The Red Wings would strike back with a run each in the fourth and fifth, and later cut the lead to three when Yohandy Morales singled in a run in the bottom of the seventh- but the four-run fourth and two runs scored by Toledo against Holden Powell in the fifth proved too much to overcome. The Wings got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh in Jose Tena with two on and two outs, but grounded out to end the inning. Toledo first baseman Justyn-Henry Malloy then put in the dagger in the eighth on a towering three-run home run that heralded a six-run eighth that made it 13-4.
Cornelio went three innings, allowing two hits, two walks, and an earned run while striking out two. He would have likely gone longer, but LeCroy says that the rain delay messed with the pitching plan.
“We have a rule here, once we have a delay, you really don’t go out again if it’s more than an hour, even if you’re throwing in the bullpen or your arm loose,” he said. “Riley was able to give us what he could give us without having to take him out, but but I thought he did a nice job, and then we just struggled after that.”
J.T. Arruda went 1-for-4 at the plate, stole a bag as a baserunner, scored the Wings’ first run, and later came in as an emergency pitcher for the third time this series, going 1.1 innings while allowing two hits and a walk but no earned runs, ensuring his season ERA remains 0.00.
“He’s been one of our better guys [that last few days], which is sad,” said LeCroy.
The loss concludes the final two-week home stand of the season for the Wings. The team went 5-7 over the stretch, taking four of six against the Syracuse Mets before dropping five of the six against Toledo. The team’s lone win against the Tigers’ affiliate was Friday, when Morales hit his second walk-off home run of the year to cap a 10-9 comeback win.
The Red Wings now head on the road for the second of two late-season two-week road trips, starting with a six-game series in Jacksonville beginning Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. After a trip to Memphis, the Red Wings return to Innovative Field for their final home series of the season, a six-game set beginning Sept. 9 at 6:05 p.m. with the Buffalo Bisons.
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