BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – With temperatures in the 70s and a blissfully rain-free forecast, the 2026 Rochester Red Wings finally had a beautiful day for a ballgame – or two. And that’s a good thing, as Tuesday’s rainout meant that Friday saw the first double-header of the season for the Red Wings, with two seven-inning games.
Sadly for the Red Wings, the clear skies didn’t bring good feelings, as they dropped both ends of the twin-bill to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, losing game one 4-2 before getting blown out in game two, 17-4.
The losses are the first losing streak for the Red Wings this season, and moves them to 4-3 on the season, tying them in the win-loss column with Scranton. It also ties the six-game series at two wins each for the squads.
“You gotta flush it,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy, post-game. Still, he said, the team remains upbeat despite the first major roadbump of the young season.
“I’m good, the clubhouse is good,” he said. “They know what they have to do to get back on track. We’ve got a good group of guys in there, and they’re going to fight.”
In game one, Red Wings’ lefty Mitchell Parker had trouble at times with the Scranton lineup, allowing 10 hits and four runs – including two home runs – in 4.2 innings. Additional opportunities came up for Scranton as the the Wings defense missed out on some defensive plays that ,while not errors, gave the RailRiders further at-bats. The Rochester offense also struggled, getting just two men across the plate and managing two hits despite drawing seven walks. Scranton took an early lead with a Paul DeJong home run with two outs in the top of the first to move ahead, 1-0, and then added two more on in the top of the second to extend the lead to 3-0.
Both hits for Rochester came courtesy of centerfielder Dylan Crews, who put a run on the board for Wings with a 402 foot, 107.2 MPH blast over the left-field wall in the bottom of the third against Carlos Lagrange to make it 3-1.
The RailRiders got that run back in the fifth with a Yanquiel Fernandez home run to right, extending their lead to 4-1.
The Red Wings had opportunities later in the game to tie it back up. Dylan Crews singled in the bottom of the fifth and then moved to second on an Abimelec Ortiz walk, and then scored when a failed pickoff attempt by Ali Sanchez went into right field for an error that allowed him to come around to score and make it 4-2. Although the Red Wings got Andres Chaparro to the plate as the tying run, he flew out to end the threat.
It would be the the first of three straight innings that Rochester got at least the tying run to the plate, but each time they’d come up short. The tying man came to the plate in the sixth with two outs, only for pinch-hitter Robert Hassell III to ground out to end the threat. Then, in the bottom of the seventh and final, Chaparro came up with two men on after two straight hit-by-pitches from Yovanny Cruz, only for a shot to right to die in the glove of the right-fielder to end the game.
“Offensively, we just didn’t do enough,” said LeCroy.
The struggles continued for the Red Wings in the second game. Although the Wings kept it a close 1-0 game through the first four innings – a Jasson Dominguez lead-off home run off Zach Penrod providing the lone score for Scranton – the RailRiders racked up 16 runs over the last three innings, eventually forcing LeCroy to call in shortstop Zack Short to pitch the final 1.1 innings. Although Rochester scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh, it was far too little to make a difference.
“That’s how it goes [sometimes],” said LeCroy post-game.
The Red Wings return to action against Scranton on Saturday, when they host the RailRiders at 1:05 p.m. Righty Luis Perales (0-1, 3.86) is scheduled to start against Scranton right-hander Dom Hamel (0-1, 17.18). Perales, the No. 6 prospect in the Washington system according to MLB.com, will be making his Red Wings’ home debut.
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