STAFF REPORTS
The Rochester Red Wings rallied to beat the Syracuse Mets 6-3 Wednesday night. Nick Gordon’s clutch two-run triple in the seventh inning, and an impressive outiing by Preston Guilmet, were keys to the win. Frontier Field hosted its largest crowd since August 10, 2017 with a paid crowd of 12,483 fans Wednesday.
The Wings return home on July 11 to host the Lehigh Valley ironPigs in a 5:35 p.m. doubleheader.
Chase De Jong started on the mound for Rochester but quickly got himself into trouble in the top half of the first inning. Syracuse loaded the bases with no outs, but only scored one run on a double play groundball.
Center fielder Jake Cave helped De Jong to a perfect second inning, making a spectacular diving catch with two outs in taking away a hit from Gavin Cecchini.
Smart baserunning by Rajai Davis led to another Mets run and a 2-0 lead in the third inning, with Davis scoring from second base on a single.
Jordany Valdespin responded for Rochester and cut the lead in half 2-1, blasting Drew Gagnon’s first pitch of the third inning over the wall in right field. It was Valdespin’s seventh home run of the season and first of the month.
A fourth-inning sacrifice groundout pushed Syracuse’s lead to 3-1.
Recent call-up Jaylin Davis crushed a 430-foot home run to center field, bringing the Wings to within a run at 3-2 in the fifth inning. Davis has six home runs and 18 RBI since joining the Wings on June 19th.
Preston Guilmet came on in relief of De Jong with one out remaining in the top of the sixth inning. De Jong exited with a line of 5.2 innings, seven hits, three runs, two walks, and four strikeouts on 88 pitches, 62 for strikes. It was the longest start of the season for De Jong, who made his ninth start Wednesday.
Sewald was also replaced in the sixth inning having thrown 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs, two walks, and four strikeouts. Sewald threw 88 pitches, 62 for strikes.
The Wings pulled ahead in the bottom of the seventh inning. A pair of singles by Davis and Wynston Sawyer brought lead-off man Nick Gordon to the plate with one out in the seventh. Gordon capitalized with a hard-hit two-RBI triple into the gap in right-center field. Ronald Torreyesfollowed with a single to score Gordon. The Wings continued to pour it on, pulling a double steal with Torreyes scoring on the throw down to second base. The four-run rally gave the Wings their first lead of the day with a 6-3 score.
Guilmet added 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out five and throwing extremely efficiently.
Ian Krol put away three of the four batters he faced in the ninth to finish off the game for the Wings.
Guilmet commented after the big win on his mindset when he entered the game: “….coming in and getting ahead of hitters, try to pound the zone and get people out.” He praised his teammates saying, “Everybody is stepping up when they need to. It was a good team win tonight all-around.”
With tonight’s win, manager Joel Skinner has a total of 1,000 career wins between the major and minor leagues.
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