Red Wings even up series with Syracuse Mets, winning 7-5

BY DAN GLICKMAN

The Rochester Red Wings evened up their series in Syracuse at two games a piece on Friday, beating the Mets, 7-5.

The Wings (18-19), who won the series opener 3-2 before losing back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday, 3-1 and 3-2, used a five-run sixth and a two-run eighth to get the win against their upstate rival.

In the early going, Rochester left-hander Andrew Alvarez and Mets righty Jonah Tong – the No. 2 prospect in the Mets system according to MLB.com Pipeline – engaged in a pitcher’s duel. Although Alvarez held the Mets to three hits and three walks in 4.2 innings of work while striking out eight, Syracuse was able to jump ahead in the first, 1-0, when Nick Morabito stole home during a Ryan Clifford steal attempt. After Alvarez left with two men on but two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Morabito struck again, singling off Seth Shuman to make it 3-0, with all three earned runs credited to Alvarez.

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The Red Wings, meanwhile, struggled against Tong for much of the game, getting held scoreless while striking out eight times. In the sixth inning, however, they finally got to the Canadian, as Christian Franklin worked a 3-2 count before driving a changeup left low over the left-center field fence at 107.7 MPH for a solo home run – only the second Red Wings hit of the night – to get the Red Wings on the board, 3-1.

Robert Hassell III drew a walk, and Tong was removed immediately after – at which point the Red Wings jumped on reliever Carlos Guzman: Dylan Crews singled, Yohandy Morales drew a walk to load the bases, Andres Chaparro brought Hassell home on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2, and then Crews scored on an Andrew Pinckney groundout to tie the game at 3. Finally, for an exclamation point on the sixth inning, Trey Lipscomb got around on a slider and knocked it over the left field fence for a two-run shot that put the Red Wings ahead, 5-3.

Syracuse would scrape back a run each over the next two innings to tie it, 5-5, but the Red Wings would go ahead for good in the eighth, when Tres Barrera singled to left with the bases loaded to put the Wings up, 7-5. Eddy Yean – who came in to finish the seventh and ultimately was awarded the win – and Erik Tolman (who earned the save) held off the Mets the rest of the way for the victory.

Rochester continues its series with Syracuse on Saturday, when Chandler Champlain takes the mound for the Red Wings against Zach Thornton at 1:05 p.m.