Chiefs beat Red Wings in road-trip finale

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, closed out a 10-game road trip with a 5-4 win over the Rochester Red Wings on Sunday afternoon. Center fielder Eury Perez slammed a three-run triple in the fourth inning, giving the Chiefs a lead they would not relinquish. The win gave Syracuse a 7-3 record on its longest road trip of the season.

Rochester (63-54) got on the board early with runs in each of the first two innings against spot starter Drew Storen. In the first, Eduardo Escobar started the game with a single after a 10-pitch at-bat, and Chris Parmelee singled Escobar to third base on the next pitch. Two batters later, first baseman Jeff Clement blooped a single to left field, scoring Escobar for a 1-0 Rochester lead.

The Red Wings added to the tally in the following frame. With one out, second baseman James Beresford doubled to short right field. Two batters later, with right-hander Ryan Tatusko in the game, Escobar lined a triple to the left-center field gap to plate Beresford for the game's second run.

Syracuse (52-62) picked up a pair of its own against Rochester right-hander Liam Hendriks in the third inning. Catcher Jhonatan Solano started the frame with a wind-aided triple to center field that snuck over the glove of center field Aaron Hicks and traveled to the wall - Solano's first career triple in 1,784 professional at-bats. Third baseman Josh Johnson followed with a ground ball to second base. Beresford threw home, but Solano slid in under the tag to cut the lead to 2-1. Later in the inning, Johnson scored from third base on a fielder's-choice groundout by second baseman Will Rhymes, evening the score at two.

The Chiefs grabbed the lead in the fourth inning. With one out, Chris Marrero singled against Hendriks, and two batters later, Solano followed with a single of his own. Johnson walked on five pitches to load the bases, bringing up Perez. The Syracuse center fielder smashed Hendriks' first pitch down the right-field line and into the corner for a three-run triple, clearing the bases to give Syracuse a 5-2 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Rochester recouped two of the runs. Eric Fryer and Escobar walked to start the frame against Tatusko. Parmelee followed with an RBI double to right field, scoring Fryer and knocking Tatusko out of the game in favor of right-hander Jeff Mandel. Mandel would retire the next three hitters, with a one-out groundout by Clement plating Escobar to knock the lead to 5-4.

That run, however, would be Rochester's final one of the game. Mandel retired nine of his 10 total batters in three scoreless innings. He gave way to right-hander Mark Lowe who struck out three in two-and-one-third innings of scoreless, one-hit, one-walk ball. Left-hander Tyler Robertson then closed out the game, picking up the save by striking out Jeff Clement and, after an Aaron Hicks single, inducing a groundout to third base from pinch-hitter Josmil Pinto.

The Chiefs will next play on Tuesday evening after an off day on Monday, as Syracuse returns home to finish a pair of games against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Chiefs and RailRiders will conclude a previously suspended game at 6:00 with the teams tied at six after 11 innings. Syracuse and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will then play a regularly scheduled game no earlier than 7:00.