The Rochester Red Wings came agonizingly close to victory Thursday night, only to see it slip away in heartbreaking fashion. A walk-off single by A.J. Ewing with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Syracuse Mets to a 3-2 win at NBT Bank Stadium, leaving the Red Wings to wonder what might have been.
Rochester had seized control early, thanks to a standout performance from Christian Franklin. Leading off the third inning, Franklin crushed a solo home run to right-center field—his first of the season—to put the Red Wings on the board. It was the kind of spark that sets the tone for a ballgame, and for a moment, it looked like Rochester might run away with it.
But Syracuse answered back in the fourth. Christian Arroyo doubled, and Ji Hwan Bae followed with a sharp RBI double to right, knotting the game at 1-1. The Red Wings refused to fold, though. In the sixth inning, Dylan Crews singled, advanced on a groundout, then swiped third base—his sixth stolen bag of the season—before scoring on Andrew Pinckney’s sacrifice fly to left. That gave Rochester a 2-1 lead and a chance to build momentum.
Syracuse had other ideas. In the bottom of the sixth, Nick Morabito singled, stole second, and came around to score on Arroyo’s two-out single to right, tying the game once more. From there, it became a battle of bullpens, with both sides trading zeros until the fateful ninth.
The drama unfolded quickly. After two quick outs, Syracuse’s Ben Rortvedt was hit by a pitch, and pinch-runner Kevin Villavicencio took his place. Jackson Cluff then walked, putting Villavicencio in scoring position. That set the stage for Ewing, who lined a single to right field, scoring Villavicencio and ending the game in walk-off fashion.
Franklin was the offensive star for Rochester, going 3-for-4 with the home run from the leadoff spot. Crews added a hit, a run, and a stolen base, while Robert Hassell III doubled and reached base twice. Pinckney’s sacrifice fly accounted for the Red Wings’ other RBI. Despite six hits as a team, Rochester was held scoreless over the final three innings.
On the mound, starter Andry Lara was solid, working 5 2/3 innings and allowing just one run while facing 22 batters. The bullpen—Jack Sinclair, Julian Fernandez, Trevor Gott, and Zach Penrod—kept the game close, but Penrod was tagged with the loss after surrendering the winning run in the ninth.
Syracuse’s pitching staff held Rochester in check, with Bryce Conley working four innings before a string of relievers bridged the gap to the ninth. Dylan Ross pitched a scoreless top of the ninth and earned the win.
For a team that held two leads and battled into the final inning, the loss stings. But games like these are part of the grind—and they remind us why baseball is never over until the last out is made.