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.
Really question sometimes why in todays baseball, managers just don’t let starters stay in games when they are going well, pitch count is low and the game is MEANINGFUL.
Do you have to experiment right now, when a pennant is on the line and there is still 75 more games to play after this weekend? Why do you send out a rookie who has never pitched in AAA in such a game? And that kid couldn’t handle the pressure, AT ALL. He couldn’t get the ball over the plate to save his life. He should have been taken out sooner when it was obvious the job was too big for him.
And as for our ‘closer’, he is shot. He hasn’t pitched well in any of his recent outings….when they have mattered most. He was dreadful again last night.
the team simply fell apart completely and its a darned shame. Memphis now has this in their sights and frankly the Wings are not playing good baseball against Toledo. I don’t think they will win the next 3. And Memphis must lose at least once. Does anyone think that will happen? I hope so, but I wouldn’t take that bet.
Watching our guys come unhinged last night was difficult to watch. Seeing our bullpen fail so badly was just a sad reminder of all the years of failure. When you can’t do the ONE job you have, when it matters most, and that is come in and throw strikes….well, great opportunity wasted.
This wasn’t good sportsfans. Choking away a win isn’t going to present the team with bouquets of accolades. Sorry. This was bad baseball and winners don’t play like that. Would it have been the end of life as we know it, to NOT have the bullpen come in ‘to face lefties’, when the starter was getting them out in a must win game? Maybe the worst decision LeCroy has made this season based on circumstances.
I know the explanations and excuses will follow and hey, who are we….just fans, waiting to see our team finally win something. What do we know about anything? But honestly when I heard Josh say, ‘and now here comes ***** making his AAA debut’, I started to steam. Why? Why now? Really?
Oh well, yeah its not over yet, but I sure feel like it is. Its out of our hands now. We wasted our chances by blowing a very winnable game.
Sad night for our fans….again.