By CRAIG POTTER
The Chiefs blast 4 homers en route to an 8-6 victory over Rochester.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — If anyone were to tell you that the Suracuse Chiefs currently sport the worst record in the International League(19-37) one would be hard-pressed to believe it following an 8-6 victory over the Rochester Red Wings before the largest crowd of the season with 12, 297 fans at Frontier Field Saturday night.
The Red Wings started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run by Mitch Garver off Syracuse starter Austin Voth.
Syracuse wasted little time in gaining the lead as with one out, Clint Robinson smacked a solo homer off Rochester starter Yohan Pino. That started a 5-run rally as the Chiefs hit back-to-back home runs, and added a RBI single to make it a 5-1 game.
Pino, who is beginning his third stint with Rochester as he pitched here in 2009 and 2014, was knocked out of the box after hurling 1.2 innings, allowing 5 earned runs on 8 hits, no walks, and no strikeouts.
The right-hander was replaced by D.J. Baxendale with two outs in the second. Syracuse extended its advantage to 8-1 in the fifth as a walk and single set up a three-run blast by Brandon Snyder.
Rochester made it a ballgame again in the bottom of the frame. Tommy Field began the rally with a single and scampered home on a RBI double by Niko Goodrum. J.B. Shuck cut the Wings’ deficit to 8-3 with a RBI hit.
The Chiefs made a pitching change, but the scoring continued when Zach Granite hit an RBI single off Rafael Martin. The hit extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Matt Hague added a bases-loaded single, plating the final two runs in the rally to make the count 8-6.
However, neither team would get a hit the rest of the game as Syracuse took a 2-1 lead in the 4-game series.
*NOTES — LHP Matt Tracy has been promoted from Double-A Chattanooga and is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon’s game…Zack Granite extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the fifth. He also drew 3 walks…The Red Wings record when scoring first dropped to 18-6 with the loss…Rochester finished May 11-15 and are 4-6 to begin June. Another losing month would be the first time the Red Wings has had back-to-back losing months snice April (10-16) and May (14-16) in 2013.Rochester won the Wild Card that season…The series and homestand concludes Sunday afternoon at 1:35 pm with a Father’s Day celebration that includes a baseball giveaway, an autograph appearance by actor Dwier Brown from the film “Field of Dreams.”