By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, NY – When it comes to buckling knees Nicki Minaj has nothing on Rochester Red Wings reliever Ryan Pressly.
And Pressly didn’t need a bar mitzvah for an audience.
The Rochester reliever provided the silver lining to an otherwise uneven Rochester Red Wing effort Tuesday night at Frontier Field.
“Ooh boy,” first-year coach Mike Quade said. “That’s the best curveball I’ve seen “Press” have. If he’s got that going with his other pitches, he’s going to be tough.”
Pressly came on in the eighth inning of a 5-3 Rochester loss to the Columbus Clippers and retired all six batters he faced, four on punch outs. Two of those looking. He threw 25 pitches, 18 for strikes.
“Everything was kinda working tonight, so we just kinda had our pick of whatever pitch we wanted to throw,” Pressly stated. “It just worked in my favor.”
After a recent four-game stretch where Pressly surrendered five runs in five innings, the right-hander allowed just one ball out of the infield — a lazy fly to right field.
“I think tonight was definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. “There was nothing I did differently. It was just little tweaks here and there. Thankfully it worked.”
Pressly credited his battery mate Josmil Pinto.
“It was just one of those things where me and Pinto were on the same page.”
Pressly fanned major leaguer Nick Swisher to start the ninth.
“I’ve faced Swisher before,” said Pressly who has made 74 MLB appearances. “I’m pretty sure he’s got a couple hits off me. You just gotta go after him, and I did.”
Pressly started the at-bat with a called strike before fooling Swisher with a breaking ball for the first out of the inning.
“That at-bat could go either way.” Pressly noted. “He can lace that curve ball right back at me, or I punch him out. I just got a little bit more break on that ball today.”
The 11-year veteran on a rehab assignment in Triple-A laughed as he attempted to get his balance before returning to the dugout.
“I guess he thought it was a pretty good one. I don’t know,” Pressly commented. “Seeing a big leaguer laugh at a curve ball he strikes out on obviously you’re doing something right.”
Pressly finished the night getting Jesus Aguilar and James Ramsey looking.
“I don’t know these kids that well,” Quade noted. “I didn’t see much of him last year. I actually saw one series when I was roving in Scranton. I heard a lot about “Press.” That was evident tonight.”
Swisher finished the night 2-for-5 with two RBI. He looked to have a third run driven in when he singled to center in the fourth, but Red Wing outfielder, Eddie Rosario gunned down Tyler Holt at the plate.
As reported, Minaj left none too few star-struck when she performed recently at a bar mitzvah in Manhattan.
The two teams meet Wednesday in game three of the series.
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