By CRAIG POTTER
The Chiefs score in the 9th to pull off a 3-2 victory over Rochester at Frontier Field.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — If turn-about is fair play, the Syracuse Chiefs accomplished that feat on Friday afternoon to spoil the Rochester Red Wings home opener before 11,343 fans at Frontier Field.
The Wings not only spoiled the season and home opener for the Chiefs a week ago, but also swept the 3-game series.
“We’ve gotten off to a decent start,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade. “Great day, the crowd was phenomenal.”
Syracuse turned the tables on Rochester as the Chiefs tallied the game-winning run in the top of the 9th to secure the victory, just their second this season (2-6). The loss dropped Rochester to 5-3.
The Red Wings opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning off Syracuse starter Jacob Turner. J.B. Shuck led off with a single but was erased at second on a fielder’s choice by Tommy Field. Matt Hague laced the first of his 3 hits, and Kennys Vargas followed with a RBI single to left, scoring Field.
However, Turner retired Dan Palka and Ben Paulsen to escape further damage as the Wings left 2 runners on base.
Hague raised his batting average to .424 (14-for-33) with his 3 hits.
“It’s a good start but it’s still early,” said Hague, who was the IL MVP in 2015 with the Buffalo Bisons. “It’s a long season. Trying to get better every day.”
Hague played last season in Japan and was glad to accept the offer by the Minnesota Twins to join their organization this season.
Rochester starter Nick Tepesch was tagged for 2 runs in the third on 5 hits. Corban Joseph led it off with a double for the Chiefs. His double in the 9th drove in the game-winning run off Wings reliever Drew Rucinski (0-1).
Tepesch settled down after that inning and retired 11 in a row as he pitched 8 innings, gave up 7 hits, walked 1, and struck out 8.
“I felt comfortable out there,” Tepesch said. “I had the one rough inning there, but other than that it was a pretty quick game.”
“Tep was great,” said Quade. “He could have fallen apart after the third inning, but he pitched great the rest of the way. He kept us in the game.
“It was a well-played game, we just didn’t cash in on our opportunities.”
The Wings knotted the game 2-2 in the 5th. John Ryan Murphy singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Shuck singled to put runners on first and third, then Field lofted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Murphy.
The 2 teams go at it again on Saturday with a 1:35 matinee.
*NOTES – The April 14th home opener is the latest this season of any major or minor league team, except the Atlanta Braves, who also open at home today. It is the latest date for the Red Wings since 2010 when they opened at Frontier Field on April 17 versus Pawtucket…28 of Rochester’s 39 runs this season have been scored from the 6th inning on, including 12 of the 13 runs in the Buffalo series…Only 3 players on the Red Wings roster – Jose Berrios, Buddy Boshers, and Kennys Vargas – were with Rochester to begin the season a year ago. However, 14 of the 25 players on the active roster did spend some time with the team at some point last season…The 11,343 opening day crowd is the largest since 2012 when 12,371 fans showed up at Frontier Field…The temperature at game-time was 59 degrees, which surpassed the 50-degree guarantee. It also marked just the second time in the last 11 years that the temperature on open day was 50 or better.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Nick Tepesch interview – https://youtu.be/ZRIiJxvy0bo
Matt Hague interview – https://youtu.be/H3yd3Mfynq4
Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/hRGu9nRByno