By CRAIG POTTER
The Chiefs post a 7-1 victory to win all 3 games of the series.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings are struggling early to find their offense as the Syracuse Chiefs swept the 3-game series with a 7-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon before a paid crowd of 2,676 at Frontier Field.
“You’re always resetting. Every day is a new day,” said Red Wings manager Joel Skinner.
Despite dropping the opening series of the season, Skinner was happy just to be playing.
“We’ve got to play some baseball, that’s what is good about it,” he said. “Some guys threw the ball well. We’re not hitting as a group yet, but when that happens some good things will start to happen.”
The Chiefs looked like they were going to break out to a big lead in the first inning as they managed 5 consecutive hits off Wings starter Dietrich Enns. However, after a visit to the mound by pitching coach Stu Cliburn, Enns retired the final 3 hitters with the bases loaded as only 2 runs crossed the plate.
“He did a good job of damage control,” Skinner said. “For how it went in the early going and for the number of pitches he threw, he really did a good job from that standpoint.”
Jake Cave cut the lead in half for Rochester in the bottom of the frame with a 365-foot home run over the left field fence.
That would be it for the Rochester offense as the Wings managed just 4 hits off a trio of Syracuse hurlers, who also combined for 12 strikeouts.
“We really didn’t play well (for the series),” Cave said. “Not to play baseball for over a week, and not to see live pitching and having to go out there in really cold weather is really tough.”
D.J. Baxendale, Mason Melotakis, and Jake Reed all saw action on the mound for Rochester as manager Joel Skinner was able to give the entire staff work in the series. The Chiefs scored 4 runs off Enns, 1 off Baxendale, and 2 off Melotakis as they collected 14 hits in the game.
*NOTES — Red Wings head to Georgia for their first road trip of the season with a 4-game series in Gwinnett, followed by a 3-game series in Charlotte…Jake Cave’s homer was the first HR for a Red Wing this season…Rochester was last swept by Syracuse in April, 2012…The last time the Wings began the season 0-3 in 2013, they made the playoffs…The Red Wings are batting .050 (1-for-20) with runners in scoring position to start the season. The Wings batted .268 with runners in scoring position last season, tied for second in the International League with Indianapolis. Syracuse paced the league with a .281 average with RISP in 2017.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com