Rochester falls 6-0 to the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon.
The Syracuse Chiefs defeated the Rochester Red Wings Sunday afternoon, 6-0. Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez threw his first career complete-game shutout, pitching for the first time after making his Major League debut earlier in the week. The Chiefs backed him with five runs in the third inning.
Syracuse (47-54) jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Goodwin came up with two outs to bat against Rochester starter Pat Dean. Goodwin unleashed a home run over the fence in right field, a solo shot that gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.
Syracuse used a big third inning to take control of the game. Leadoff man Caleb Ramsey started the frame with a double to left field. Steve Lombardozzi then blooped in a double of his own, scoring Ramsey to move the Chiefs’ lead to 2-0. Matt Skole earned a one-out walk to then put runners on first and second. Both Lombardozzi and Skole then advanced a base by tagging on a Chris Bostick fly out to right field. The Aquinas graduate from Chili went 0-for-4 for the day.
Jhonatan Solano followed with a single to left, plating both Lombardozzi and Skole to make the Syracuse lead 4-0. Martinson then put the exclamation point on the inning with a home run estimated at 405 feet over the fence in left field, giving the Chiefs a commanding 6-0 advantage. The five runs scored in the frame topped the four runs Syracuse had scored in its previous four games against Rochester.
The Red Wings were silenced by Reynaldo Lopez, who turned in his best start of the year. Lopez pitched all nine innings on the mound, allowing only four hits to Rochester one night after the Red Wings slugged an International League-season-high 22 hits.
Pat Dean took the loss for Rochester (60-43) as the Wings fell 4.5 games behind North Division leader Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (64-38), and one game behind second place Lehigh Valley (60-41).
Rochester travels to Pawtucket to begin a 4-game series on Monday.