Bryce Harper earned base hits in his first two at-bats in Syracuse, but the Chiefs, the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals fell to Rochester 7-4.
Harper landed a seeing-eye hit down the first baseline that earned him a double in the 2nd inning but was stranded at 3rd base. He followed that up with another base hit in his second at-bat, but went hitless in his final two of the game.
The Chiefs dug themselves a hole they simply could not find their way out of after surrendering a 5-run seventh inning to the Red Wings to fall behind 7-0. A valiant four run effort in the bottom half of that inning would be as close as they could get in the 3-run loss.
Mitch Atkins takes the loss for Syracuse (0-1) who looks forward to Friday's 4 p.m. matchup at Alliance Bank Stadium with Rochester.
