Home runs the difference as Red Wings edged by Buffalo

By CHUCKIE MAGGIO

Location, location, location.

Keibert Ruiz mashed fly balls to right field in consecutive innings on Thursday evening that cratered on the Sahlen Field warning track and into Cullen Large’s glove for outs. Ruiz, batting just .115 since joining Rochester in the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner blockbuster, narrowly missed his first multi-home run game as a Red Wing after recording four such performances with the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Had the switch-hitting catcher been able to hit righthanded Bisons starter Bowden Francis’s offerings the other way in the fourth and fifth innings, he could have rounded the bases like Buffalo batsmen Kevin Smith and Forrest Wall. Left field was the wind-friendly direction to slug, the difference in the Bisons’ 4-3 victory.

Rochester made solid contact for the first time in three games, but avoiding a third consecutive shutout wasn’t enough to secure the win.

Smith stood on deck with two outs in the third when Red Wings starter Josh Rogers lost the strike zone and walked major league rehabber Cavan Biggio on four straight pitches. The Buffalo slugger took a pitch before crushing a three-run homer, his 19th of the season, to left-center field.

The Red Wings, not known for their comebacks, answered almost immediately. Jake Noll’s one-out single, Brandon Snyder’s four-pitch walk and a pitch off Derek Dietrich’s toe loaded the bases for Blake Swihart, who walked to score Noll. Rafael Bautista and Ali Castillo squared the score with a single and sacrifice fly, respectively.

Rogers escaped a jam in the fourth, with the help of Ruiz throwing out Christian Colon at third base after Colon’s leadoff double, but Wall led off the fifth with his first homer since Sept. 2, 2019.

The Red Wings’ bullpen did not surrender a run for the second straight night, but the lineup squandered an opportunity after Noll and Snyder each collected one-out singles in the eighth. Dietrich struck out and Swihart flew out to right, ending the rally. Bryan Baker completed a five-out save for the Bisons, securing Francis’s seventh win of the year. Francis allowed just two hits in six innings.

Rochester and Buffalo are scheduled to continue the series at 7:05 p.m. on Friday.