BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Eddy Yean has been the star of the Rochester Red Wings bullpen for much of the 2026 season so far. Perhaps nowhere was that most visible than the top of the eighth in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Syracuse Mets.
Entering the inning up 5-0, the recently demoted P.J. Poulin struggled, allowing the first four batters to reach including a bases-loaded walk to Cristian Pache to put Syracuse on the board, 5-1. With the bases still loaded and no outs, Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy had no choice but to bring in Yean for his 25th appearance of the season – the most in the International League.
“That was the big spot,” said LeCroy.
And Yean rose to the challenge, immediately striking out Syracuse catcher Ben Rortvedt. While he then hit a challenges with a run-scoring wild pitch and then a walk to Matt Rudick, he followed that up by striking out Mets No. 11 prospect Nick Morabito and then getting Ji Hwan Bae to fly out to end the inning. The Red Wings still had the lead, 5-2, and while a solo shot from Christian Arroyo off Zach Penrod in the ninth would cut the lead to 5-3, the Wings would hold on for the win.
“Poulin wasn’t as sharp as he’d like to be, but Eddy came in and really did a nice job, shut it down,” said LeCroy. “He kept us in it and limited the damage.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
The lead that Yean helped hold had been building throughout the game, starting with Red Wings shortstop Seaver King, who hit from the leadoff spot for the first time in AAA on Saturday and made the most of it, going 3-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, a stolen base, and two runs scored.
“That’s really nice [from him], especially out of the leadoff spot,” said LeCroy, who moved King – who often hit leadoff when with AA Harrisburg this season – into the number one spot while usual leadoff man Christian Franklin took a day off.
“We thought Seaver could could roll right into that spot, and he did a nice job,” he said.
“I was consistent today, was able to get back on the horse after a bad day yesterday, kind of flush it and move on,” said King of his Saturday performance.
King, who had reached base safely in all 42 games he’d played in between Rochester and Harrisburg this season, finally saw that streak come to an end on Friday night, when he went 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
“It sucked that [the streak] came to an end, but we won the game last night, so that’s all that matters,” said King.
He started a new streak immediately in the bottom of the first inning, opening the Wings offense by hoofing an infield single. Then, in the bottom of the third, the Georgian got the scoring going against Jack Wenninger, who replaced Zach Peek as part of a “bullpen day” for Syracuse. After taking a ball and then fouling one off, King found the pitch he later admitted he was looking for: a fastball near the middle. He connected with it and sent it to center at 102.5 MPH, where it landed 417 feet away for King’s second home run as a Red Wing. Rochester had its first lead of the game, 1-0.
The Wings would add additional runs in the sixth, when an Andrew Pinckney single and Joey Wiemer double put two men in scoring position before the two came in to score on a Robert Hassell III groundout and later a Trey Lipscomb sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. They then added two more in the seventh, as King led off with a single before coming around all the way to score when Pache misplayed a Yohandy Morales single to center so badly that Morales was able to reach third on the error to extend the lead to 4-0. Morales himself came in to score when the next batter, Abimelec Ortiz, singled him in to put the Wings up 5-0.
That would be enough to withstand Syracuse’s comeback attempts, and moved the Wings to 20-5 in May and 34-21 overall while keeping them a half-game up on Memphis and Nashville in the International League.
The win also meant the Wings have ensured a series victory, a goal that LeCroy has had every week throughout the season.
“What we’re trying to accomplish here is to win every series,” he said.
This week, that was mission accomplished, but the series isn’t over yet: the Red Wings and Syracuse finish their six-game set on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Rochester expects to send out righty Andry Lara (2-2, 5.12) against Syracuse right-hander Jack Weisenburger (0-2, 7.95).
Leave a Reply