Rochester’s playoff hopes dim with the loss.
By Rochester Red Wings
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A night after hanging 20 runs on the board, the Rochester Red Wings offense managed just one in a 5-1 setback to the Syracuse Mets Friday night at NBT Bank Ballpark.
The Wings (65-65) are now 5 games back of first place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with just 10 games remaining in the regular season. Syracuse has won 9 straight games to remain 1.5 behind the RailRiders.
Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Ramon Flores tied the game with his third homer of the season for the Wings.
But, the game wouldn’t stay tied for long. The Mets grabbed the lead back on a two-out, RBI double from Ali Sanchez that was momentarily in the glove of Red Wings centerfielder Ian Miller who ranged far into the left-centerfield gap to try and haul in the catch.
Randy Dobnak suffered just his second loss in a Wings uniform allowing two runs on four hits and two walks over five innings.
The game remained 2-1 until the Mets tacked on three, two-out insurance runs off Fernando Romero in the eighth inning.
Game two of the three-game series is Saturday night.
*NOTES — The North Division is in a Free-for-All in the Final Days. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were sitting pretty earlier this month, owners of a 6.0-game advantage in the division as recently as Aug. 6, but a sub-par stretch has opened the door to the upstate New York clubs, all three of which have made a push. Since the Wild Card is likely to come from the South, the four contenders in the IL North Division are battling for a sole playoff berth. If 2 clubs finish tied for 1st in the division with only one to advance, an extra game will be held the day after the regular season concludes to determine the final standing. The IL tiebreaker formula determines the home team for such an affair, with head-to-head record being the first criteria used. If 3 (or more) teams tied for 1st, there would be no extra game, and the tiebreaker formula would be used to determine the division champion, again based first on head-to-head competition followed by intradivisional record…Tonight’s loss dropped the Red Wings to 5 games behind SWB with 10 to play…Third-place Buffalo also lost and to fall 4 games off the pace.