By: Aiden Locke
ROCHESTER, NY --- The Rochester Red Wings dropped another tough game to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Thursday. A late six run explosion gave the IronPigs a late lead that Rochester couldn't overcome. The series sits 2-1 in favor of Lehigh Valley after the 11-4 win.
It's been a shaky start for Rochester post All-Star break. The Red Wings are just 1-5 since play resumed on July 19. The slump sees them fall out of first place in the IL East second-half standings. They currently sit tied for second place with Syracuse and remain two games back of Lehigh Valley.
"We got back in it, we tied it up in the seventh and had a big opportunity with the bases loaded with one out and we didn't score," Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. "We got the momentum and didn't take advantage of it."
Starting pitcher Jackson Rutledge for Rochester, surrendered a solo home run in the first inning to DH Buddy Kennedy. Starter David Parkinson for Lehigh Valley also gave up an early long ball to Rochester left fielder Stone Garrett in the second inning. Rutledge was tagged for four earned runs while Parkinson was tagged with three.
Garrett is finally finding some form for the Red Wings, hitting .320 with an OPS of 1.054 over the last 15 days. He also pairs two doubles, two home runs, and four RBI with those numbers.
"I found a good rhythm and I'm just trying to be ready to hit and do damage with hitter's counts," Garrett said.
Both teams were productive at the plate. Rochester generated 10 hits while Lehigh Valley had 14. Lehigh Valley also secured six walks to Rochester's four. Both offenses went back and forth throughout the game. Entering the eighth inning, it was tied 4-4. Red Wings reliever Orlando Ribalta had an outing to forget in the eighth surrendering five of the six runs and getting tagged with his first loss of the season for Rochester.
The fourth-ranked prospect in baseball Dylan Crews had another productive day. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two doubles. The first extra-base hit came in the third inning. He hit a grounder to left center field which would be a single for most batters but with his speed and aggressive mentality he turned it into more.
"Out of the box I'm always thinking two," Crews said. "I knew the centerfielder was shifted over towards right center so I had a pretty good shot at it out of the gate."
Rochester had a great chance in the seventh inning to produce multiple runs. Nine-hole hitter Erick Mejia started the inning off reaching base on a popped bunt to third. Lead-off man Dylan Crews and two-hole hitter Alex Call both drew walks, filling the bases. Third baseman Brady House was next up and he hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the only run of the inning. DH Travis Blakenhorn drew a walk at the next at-bat to re-load the bases for first baseman Joey Meneses. Meneses popped out to IronPigs first baseman Darick Hall. Hall had four RBI in the game which was on his birthday. Stone Garrett was next and he struck out to end the inning.
Both bullpens struggled at times and the biggest difference for Lehigh Valley was limiting the potential damage in the seventh inning.
These two teams will be back at it on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Thad Ward will take the mound for Rochester and Nick Nelson will get the starting duties for Lehigh Valley.
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