BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings went 0-2 in a doubleheader against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Thursday, falling in the first game 18-3 before falling behind late in an offense-filled second game, 11-9.
The losses, which put the Red Wings under .500 (4-5) for the first time in the second half of the International League season, also sent the Red Wings into their first three-game losing streak since April 30 through May 1, when the team lost both ends of a doubleheader to Worcester on a Thursday before falling on Friday as well.
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“It’s been a couple of day where we just played not [like] ourselves,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy post-game. “This is something we’re not used to, but we’re going to go out and work and see if we can get back in the win column tomorrow.”
The first game was the conclusion of the game that began Wednesday, when a furious storm of rain and wind forced a suspension of a game between the teams. It started again exactly where it has been suspended the night before: with the Wings down 2-0 due to solo home runs by Otto Kemp and Paul McIntosh. Lehigh Valley center fielder Dylan Carlson was up to bat with a 1-2 count with no outs in the top of the fifth, with men on first and second. The only differences besides the weather were the uniforms (the Red Wings had swapped to Rochester Plates yellows) and the pitcher (Paxton Schultz had replaced Andry Lara).
The Red Wings soon began wishing that the game had never resumed – Carlson began the restarted game with an RBI single to make it 3-0, and later Dylan Moore brought in another on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0. While the Red Wings would over the remaining five innings score three runs, that would be dwarfed by the 16 runs scored by Lehigh Valley during the remainder of the suspended game, and by the end the Red Wings had second baseman Phillip Glasser pitching in relief. Glasser also was one of the bright spots at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a walk, while Abimelec Ortiz hit a solo home run.
“We just didn’t pitch well,” said LeCroy after. “And we obviously didn’t score enough to get back in it. We hadn’t had a game like that in awhile, and unfortunately for us we had to wait to take that beating for a day and a half.”
After getting beaten badly in the opening part of the night, it initially looked like Rochester would continue to struggle, as Lehigh Valley jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first when Keaton Anthony hit a two-out, two-run home run off “opener” Alex Young. Connor Van Scoyoc took over in the second to make his Red Wings debut and struck out the first batter he faced, but an error by the first baseman Ortiz made possible two unearned runs to score later in the inning off a Robert Moore double and Steward Berroa single to make it 4-0.
And while the Red Wings started off the second well as Andrew Pinckney lead off against Chuck King by legging out an infield single, the next two men went down to bring it to two outs. That’s when a rally began: Riley Adams walked to put two men on, and then Glasser singled to left to bring in Pinckney and cut the score to 4-1 against King. Christian Franklin then reached base on a hit-by-pitch, bringing to the plate Yohandy Morales. The Miami product worked a 1-1 count before he turned around on a changeup and smacked it over the left-center field fence for a grand slam to put the Wings ahead, 5-4, on his 18th long ball of the season.
The two teams traded blows in the next inning of the seven-inning affair, withKemp putting Lehigh Valley ahead again, 6-5 in the third with a two-run home run off Van Scoyoc, only for Trey Lipscomb to slingshot the Red Wings back into the lead with his 15th home run of the year in the bottom half to make the score 7-6.
The Red Wings seemed to headed towards holding that lead – Pinckney robbed Anthony of a would-be game-tying home run in the fifth, for example, and while two men reached to start the sixth against Luke Young, the reliever was then able to get two more outs.
However, Lehigh Valley Steward Berroa hit a ground ball up the middle. Glasser was able to get to it and prevent the ball from reaching the outfield, but had no play at first, allowing McIntosh to score and tie the game at seven. Lehigh first baseman Felix Reyes followed that up with a towering 445-foot three-run home run to give the IronPigs the 10-7 lead, which Anthony added on to with an RBI single later in the inning.
Although the Red Wings scraped two runs back by the end of the seven-inning game, it wasn’t enough, sending them down in the 11-9 defeat.
But as is often the case in baseball, the season goes on.
“We’ve got to respond to this tough, long day,” says LeCroy. “Disappointing, but it’s baseball, it’s a new second half, and we’ve got to continue to grind and compete and win as many games as we can.”
The Red Wings continue their week-long series and try to get back in the win column on Friday, when they start lefty Jackson Kent (4-2, 4.64) against Charlotte southpaw Kolby Allard (2-1, 4.39). The game has an early 6:05 p.m. start to give time for the post-game RPO concert and fireworks.
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