Chiefs crush Red Wings for seventh straight win

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, won their seventh straight game with a 9-3 win over the Rochester Red Wings on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs used a balanced offensive attack and scored in five separate innings against four Rochester pitchers. Jesus Flores and Chris Marrero both homered to give Syracuse its fourth win in five games against the Red Wings this season.

Syracuse (19-22) scored two runs before making an out in the first inning. Gregor Blanco singled and Corey Brown walked before Michael Aubrey hit a sinking line drive to center field. The ball landed for a single and got past Rene Tosoni in center field to score two runs. The Chiefs punched across another run in the third inning on a Marrero RBI single. The former first round pick was 3-for-4 on the day with a walk, a run, and 4 RBIs.

In the fourth inning, Flores crushed his second home run of the year with a drive to left field. Another run crossed when Jesus Valdez scored on a Matt Brown error. In the top of the fifth, Marrero added a decisive blow with a three-run homer to end Rochester (16-25) starter Eric Hacker's day. The home run was Marrero's fourth of the season.

Craig Stammen collected his fourth win for Syracuse with five innings of three-run ball. Collin Balester's three scoreless innings and Ryan Mattheus' shutout ninth followed Stammen's winning effort.

Syracuse goes for its eighth consecutive win Monday night at 7:00. Righthanders Yunesky Maya and Kyle Gibson will oppose each other from Frontier Field.