BY DAN GLICKMAN
Third baseman Yohandy Morales went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and two RBI as the Rochester Red Wings defeated the home-standing Syracuse Mets on Sunday, 8-5, to put the Red Wings back over .500 (20-19) and give them the 4-2 series win against their thruway neighbors.
The Wings never trailed in the game, with right-fielder Christian Franklin hitting a solo home-run – his third of the season and third in four days – on the first pitch of the game to give the Wings an instant 1-0 lead.
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While Syracuse would tie it up, 1-1, in the bottom of third with a solo home run from former Red Wing Jackson Cluff, Morales would put the Wings ahead again in the fourth, finding a fastball up from Xzavion Curry and launching it at 102.9 MPH over the right-center field fence to make it 2-1. The homer gave “Yoyo” the team lead on the season in home runs, with seven.
Syracuse again tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot from Ryan Clifford, but the Wings jumped ahead for good in the sixth, when Morales doubled in Harry Ford before Andrew Pinckney brought both Morales and Robert Hassell III home on a two-out double to make it 5-3. An additional run came in the seventh, when Andres Chaparro drew a bases-loaded walk to increase the lead to 6-3. A two-run seventh got Syracuse back to within one, but the Red Wings added two runs of insurance in the top of the ninth off Hassell and Phillip Glasser singles to bring about the 8-5 final score.
Starter Riley Cornelio got the win, going five innings while allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out eight to move to 4-1 on the season. Eddy Yean earned the save, his fifth, with a hitless ninth, striking out one.
The Red Wings return home on Tuesday to begin a six-game set with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. Right-hander Luis Perales is expected to start the opening game.
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