Rochester’s rally falls short in the 5-4 loss to the Syracuse Mets.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Rochester Red Wings ninth-inning rally fell short Monday night in a 5-4 loss to the Syracuse Mets at NBT Bank Stadium. The loss is the Wings’ fourth straight after an Opening Night victory in Lehigh Valley.
Rochester (1-4) trailed 5-2 entering the final frame, but Luke Raley drew a one-out walk in front of Brent Rooker who crushed an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall for a 2-run homer. The long ball was the second of the season for the Twins prospect.
Two batters later, Tomas Telis reached via an error on the Mets second baseman setting the stage for Adam Rosales. The Wings third baseman rocketed a shot to right field but Rymer Liriano tracked it down just in front of the wall to end the game.
John Andreoli gave the Wings a brief lead in the third with his first homer of the season – a two-run shot that just snuck over the right field fence.
But, the game turned in the fourth inning. The Wings left the bases loaded with 2 outs in the fourth, while Syracuse’s David Thompson clocked a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom half of the inning to break the tie and give the Mets a 4-2 advantage.
A Dilson Herrera RBI single in the sixth inning extended the Mets lead to 5-2.
Justin Nicolino (0-1) suffered the loss allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk over four innings in his Wings debut.
The Red Wings who hit seven homers all of last April, have now hit 7 in the first 5 games of 2019.
The Wings and Mets continue the 3-game series on Tuesday afternoon at 1:05 pm. Kohl Stewart will make his second start of the season after earning the victory in the season opener against Lehigh Valley.
WINGS THINGS: The home run for Andreoli was his first since May 2, 2018…The Wings have scored 12 runs this season and 11 have come via the home run…Rochester is 1-for-20 with RISP to start the season…Rochester has hit 5 home runs to produce 7 of the 8 total runs scored this season. The Red Wings hit just 7 April homers last year and did not hit their fifth of the season until April 20 vs. Columbus, when the team hit three. Ronald Torreyes, from the two-hole, hit the first on the first pitch he saw and sixth overall from Lehigh Valley starter Cole Irvin on Opening Night. The Red Wings did not hit their first homer until the 321st pitch and 73rd at-bat of 2018 when Jake Cave went deep with 2 outs in the 1st inning on April 11 vs. Syracuse.