BY DAN GLICKMAN
The Rochester Red Wings entered Friday having not swept a double-header since August 30, 2024. They still haven’t – they won the first game of their twinbill at the Syracuse Mets, 5-0, before falling on an walkoff home run in the ninth by Syracuse catcher Hayden Senger, 7-4.
The win and loss leaves the Red Wings at 36-25 in the second half (81-53 overall), percentage points behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for first place in the International League second half.
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Game one was a pitching showcase for Isaac Lyon, who allowed two hits and fanned five in his second IL start, although he did walk five. Kyle Nicholas followed and struck out the side in the sixth, and then Paxton Schultz finished the game with a scoreless seventh. Lyon’s win was his first at the AAA level. Offensively, the Red Wings jumped ahead in the top of the fifth, when Sam Petersen scored on a Phillip Glasser groundout. Another run scored later in the fifth on a throwing error by Syracuse’s second baseman, Emilien Pitre, to make it 2-0. Petersen would put an exclamation point on the lead with a three-run home run in the sixth, his third in AAA this season, to bring about the final 5-0 score.
In game two, the Red Wings again struck first, courtesy of a historic home run by Trey Lipscomb. With no out and Johnathan Thomas on second in the fifth, the shortstop smashed a sinker over the right-field fence for his 30th home run of the year – the most for a Red Wing since Terry Crowley in 1977. The blast gave the Wings a 2-0 lead.
That lead wouldn’t last long, however, as Syracuse tied it up, 2-2, in the bottom half of the inning on a groundout by Kevin Parada and a double by Zack Short. Neither team would score again until extra innings, where Riley Adams hit a go-ahead two-run home run to put the Red Wings up, 4-2, in the top of the eighth. That lead wouldn’t hold, though, as a two-run double by Vidal Brujan tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. After the Red Wings failed to score in the top of the ninth, Senger’s three-run shot in the bottom half sent them home in defeat.
Rochester and Syracuse continue their series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Rochester expects to send righty Zak Kent against Syracuse’s right-handed prospect, Jonah Tong.
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