BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER – All good things must come to an end, or so it is said. And on Thursday night, what ended was the Rochester Red Wings’ longest winning streak since 1992, as the team fell to the Syracuse Mets, 8-4.
With Memphis’ victory over Omaha on Thursday night, the loss moves the Red Wings to a half-game back for the top spot in the International League first half, at 32-21.
The cause of the defeat were varied. The team couldn’t take full advantage of scoring opportunities, stranding seven runners on base, for one. The team’s pitchers allowed too many hits – 13 in all. And, perhaps most of all, there was little bit of bad luck, as two successive at-bat allowed a four-run fourth that allowed Syracuse to take a lead it’d never give up.
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With the score 2-2, that fourth inning began with an infield single by Syracuse third baseman, Andy Ibanez, who sent a ball to Rochester’s Brady House. House threw to first baseman Yohandy Morales, who made a nice pick attempt to get the ball from the dirt, but the ball left his hand just long enough for Ibanez to reach safely.
The next batter, Yonny Hernandez, connected with Chandler Champlain‘s next pitch, bounding a ball towards second baseman Phillip Glasser. It seemed to be a tailor-made double play ball – but then a funny hop happened, going high enough to go over Glasser’s head and into right field.
The floodgates opened after that, as the Mets got to Champlain, who had arguably been the best pitcher this season for the Red Wings. A passed ball moved Hernandez to second, then a walk to Ben Rortvedt loaded the bases. Cristian Pache followed with a triple to propel Syracuse to a 5-2 lead, and then scored on a Jackson Cluff sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.
Rochester never came back, and Champlain ultimately took his first loss of the season to move to 4-1 on the year by allowing five runs on seven hits over four innings.
“That crazy double play ball took a bad hop and went over Glasser’s head, I think that was to me the biggest turning point of the ball game,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy.
“Champlain wasn’t as he’s been, maybe because he was coming out of the bullpen, but he’s not gonna make excuses, and he still battled and gave us some innings.”
Earlier in the game, the Mets sent out rehabbing major leaguer Kodai Senga to the mound. A 2023 All-Star and gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, he’s seen his American career stall due to injuries, including the back inflammation that sent him to the injured list in late April. Best known for a forkball that has been dubbed the “ghost fork”, the righty immediately went to work against the Red Wings, striking out Christian Franklin, Yohandy Morales, and Abimelec Ortiz in quick succession in a perfect bottom of the first.
Syracuse then jumped ahead in the top of the second. Erik Tolman, who was working as an opener for the Red Wings, walked Ryan Clifford to start the inning before Chandler Champlain took over as the “bulk man” for the game. The use of an opener had been a directive from the Washington Nationals.
Champlain initially struggled, allowing three straight singles, including a two-RBI single by Ben Rortvedt to give Syracuse a 2-0 lead. A double play and a strikeout ended the threat before any additional damage could be done, however.
And then, in the bottom of the inning, as the Red Wings have done on several occasions during their streak, the team came back. With one out, Senga began to have control problems, hitting Seaver King. Joey Wiemer then singled, and then a wild pitch moved King to third and Wiemer to second. Robert Hassell III walked to load the bases, and then Riley Adams drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 2-1. Glasser followed with a sacrifice fly to score Wiemer, tying the game at two. The team wasn’t able to capitalize any more, however, as Senga struck out Christian Franklin to end the inning. Senga ultimately went 3.2 innings, allowing four hits, three runs (two earned) while striking out five and walking two.
Although Franklin would redeem himself with RBI singles in the fourth and sixth to cut the deficit to 6-4, the Red Wings never were able to close the gap enough, and a home run by Ryan Clifford in the top of the seventh and an Ibanez RBI single in the ninth provided Syracuse more insurance.
Although the loss ended the streak, LeCroy believes this isn’t the end of the Red Wings’ hot May.
“They got a good team as well, but these kids, they’ve battled all year, and to win ten in a row in baseball is really tough, I told them after the game to turn the music on, and hopefully we start another streak tomorrow,” said LeCroy.
The Red Wings will have that opportunity when they and the Mets continue their series on Friday night at 6:45 p.m. Left-hander Jackson Kent is set to start for the Wings.
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