BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After an unfortunate seventh inning, the Rochester Red Wings (43-27) fell to the Toledo Mud Hens (33-38) 10-6 Thursday evening.
”Very rare game for us both defensively and pitching,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. “We knew it was going to be hard, but we have to be able to bounce back tomorrow.”
Going into the top of the seventh, Rochester led Toledo 3-2. Eleven batters and five runs later, the Wings found themselves behind by four. The Red Wings bullpen surrendered seven walks with three of them resulting in runs. The Mud Hens recorded one hit in the inning when Jace Jung led off the inning with a double.
”We didn’t throw the ball over the plate,” LeCroy said. “That has happened all year and it’s very uncharacteristic. The big key was we didn’t throw it over the plate. You can’t give free passes.”
Jung gave Rochester fits all game long as he hit a solo home run to get Toledo on the board in the second and finished the contest with
Rochester’s bad luck continued into the eighth inning as they committed three errors with two of them resulting in two runs. Both of the errors came on the same play as the Red Wings tried to get aggressive with recording outs after the tough seventh.
”We got sloppy in the eighth,” LeCroy said.
Yohandy Morales, Trey Lipscomb, Abimelec Ortiz, and Phillip Glasser drove in the runs for Rochester. Morales got the Red Wings on the board with a ground out RBI that scored Glasser in the third. Lipscomb gave Rochester a 3-2 lead in the fourth with two run double. Ortiz stopped the bleeding in the eight with a solo homer to right center field. Glasser and Morales each drove run in a failed rally in the ninth.
“He’s been hot,” LeCroy said about Ortiz. “He carried us during our winning streak in May. He hit a ton of homers. He gives us what we want from the middle.”
Chandler Champlain started for Rochester and gave a solid performance on the mound. The right-hander worked six innings with two strikeouts and giving up two runs on four hits and a walk.
”He made some good adjustments and got through pretty easy to the sixth,” LeCroy said. “He did his job.”
Champlain had 67 pitches through his six innings of work and had just set down Toledo down in order for two straight innings before he got the hook for the night.
”It was the plan for him to go six,” LeCroy said. “ We wanted to get some of our bullpen against the lefties.”
The Wings will need some help from the Nashville Sounds (42-29) as they continue their series with the Memphis Red Birds (44-27) which is tied with Rochester for first place in the International League. The Red Wings need to sweep the weekend to give them a shot of making the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
”We have to go out and play fearlessly, not worry about making mistakes and see what happens,” LeCroy said.
The Rochester Red Wings and Toledo Mud Hens will continue their series on Friday at 6:45 p.m., as righty Andry Lara (2-4, 5.67) will take the mound for Rochester while right-hander Dylan File (4-3, 5.21) will toe the slab for Toledo.
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