Red Wings ride King’s homer to beat Mets

Seaver King hit his second home run of the year for Rochester and the Red Wings beat the Syracuse Mets 5-3 Saturday night at ESL Ballpark.

King’s leadoff home run in the third inning opened the scoring for Rochester, which added two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to secure the win. The Red Wings have now won four of the first five games in the series and 17 of their last 19 games.

King, who finished with multiple hits, singled in the seventh and scored on a line-drive single by Yohandy Morales. Morales advanced to third on a Syracuse fielding error. Abimelec Ortiz then drove in Morales with a single to extend Rochester’s lead to 5-0.

Red Wings did most of their scoring against Syracuse pitcher Jack Wenninger. In the sixth, Andrew Pinckney led off with a single, and Joey Wiemer doubled to put runners on second and third. Robert Hassell III grounded out to bring home Pinckney, and after a Riley Adams walk, Trey Lipscomb hit a sacrifice fly to score Wiemer and give Rochester a 3-0 lead.

Syracuse attempted a comeback late in the game but came up short. In the eighth, Ryan Clifford and Andy Ibáñez singled, and Yonny Hernández walked to load the bases. Cristian Pache then walked to force in a run. After Rochester went to reliever Eddy Yean, a wild pitch allowed another run to score before Yean worked out of further trouble to preserve a 5-2 lead.

Christian Arroyo hit a leadoff home run in the ninth to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Zach Penrod retired the next three batters to end the game.

The Red Wings bullpen played a significant role in securing the win, covering six innings and allowing three runs. Trevor Gott , Jack Sinclair, PJ Poulin , Eddy Yean and Penrod combined to protect the lead.

The series finale is set for Sunday, with Rochester looking to close out another series win against Syracuse and continue its strong May performance. The Red Wings have the best record it the International League.