Red Wings drop both ends of weather-delayed doubleheader against Worcester

Rochester got a power lift from Dylan Crews and Andrés Chaparro, but the Red Wings still spent a draining Thursday searching for answers in two different kinds of loss, falling 4-3 and 7-1 to Worcester in a seven-inning doubleheader at ESL Ballpark.

The weather delay that pushed Wednesday night’s game into an 11:05 a.m. makeup turned the homestand into an early grind, and Rochester’s own notes said it was the earliest doubleheader first pitch at the ballpark since at least 2004. Worcester arrived with a winning record and a day off behind it, and the WooSox made that time count by jumping fast in the opener and carrying the momentum into the nightcap.

Game one had the sharper edge. Worcester scored all three of its runs in the first inning, forcing Rochester to chase from the start after Zach Penrod took the ball against Alec Gamboa. Crews answered with a first-inning home run, his fourth of the season, and the ball left his bat at 110.4 mph, the hardest homer by a Red Wing in 2026. Still, the early damage held up until Andrés Chaparro cut the margin again with a ninth-inning solo shot, giving Rochester life but not enough time to complete the comeback.

The second game showed a different kind of frustration. Riley Cornelio was slated to face a Worcester starter listed as TBA, and the Red Wings again found production from Chaparro and Levi Jordan, who each added extra-base hits. Chaparro’s bat stayed hot after his late homer in the opener, but Rochester never found the multi-run inning it needed to threaten a team that kept answering and widened the gap to a 7-1 finish.

The sweep blunted what had been a strong start to the set. Rochester had beaten Worcester 10-1 on Tuesday behind Chandler Champlain’s five innings, Trey Lipscomb’s three-hit night and Yohandy Morales’ fourth homer of April, and the Red Wings had been trying to string together a season-high three straight wins. Instead, the doubleheader exposed both ends of the problem: a first game lost in the first inning, and a second game that slipped away before the offense could turn singles and doubles into a rally.