BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The temperature in Rochester on Wednesday night was hot, with the in-stadium scoreboard temperature reading in the 80s even after sunset. The Rochester Red Wings pitchers kept the Buffalo Bisons bats cold, holding them hitless for nine innings worth of outs. The problem? The Red Wings could never strike the final winning blow, and eventually, their luck ran out, as they fell, 5-4, in 12 innings. It was the longest game of the season for the Wings.
“We had a couple chances to win it, but we didn’t do it,” said Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy.
Indeed, the Red Wings got the would-be winning run to third base in two of the three extra innings and had the winning run in scoring position in all four of the final six innings, but could never pull ahead.
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“They made pitches, we just couldn’t hit them,” said LeCroy. “I’m really proud of the pitching staff for keeping us in it, but we just couldn’t get it done offensively.”
Rochester took the initial lead in the bottom of the first, as second baseman Jeter Downs and right fielder Blake Rutherford hit back-to-back one-out singles to get a man in scoring position against Buffalo starter Zach Thompson. First baseman Travis Blankenhorn brought Downs home with a two-out single through the right side to make it 1-0.
Right-handed starter Jose Urena had perhaps his best start in a Red Wings uniform, allowing five hits and only two earned runs in five innings of work. Both of those runs allowed came in the top of the third, as Buffalo center fielder Otto Lopez led off the inning with a triple to deep right-center field before being knocked home on a single by the following batter, left fielder Spencer Horwitz. Horwitz would move to third after a double by Davis Schneider before later scoring to take the 2-1 lead on a one-out groundout by second baseman Rafael Lantigua.
That groundout was the second out of the “stealth no-hitter,” as Urena got the next batter out and then had perfect fourth and fifth innings before being replaced by Daniel Mengden, making his first Red Wings appearance since signing earlier this month.
Mengden, a 30-year-old veteran with 65 Major League appearances, hadn’t pitched since mid-June with the Omaha Stormchasers (AAA Kansas City). Despite the long layoff, he showed no issues, throwing a perfect sixth and seventh.
“It was great being back out there,” he said post-game. “Sadly, I’d done it before, having 19, 20, or 15 days off before.”
“It was really nice to get out there and throw some strikes and get ahead and get some weak contact.”
It helped that his batterymate was familiar for Mengden: Jacob Nottingham, another recent minor league signing into the Nationals organization. Mengden and Nottingham had both been drafted into the Astros organization early in their careers and had played together in the lower minors, making this something of a reunion.
“We have some history together,” said Mengden. “It was nice getting to throw to him again, I hadn’t thrown to him in five or six years, but it was nice to have someone back there who knows me a little bit.”
Mengden was followed up by two-thirds of an inning by Tim Cate, and then 2.1 from Luis Reyes. At the plate, the Red Wings took advantage of a missed opportunity for Buffalo in the seventh to tie it up. With two outs, shortstop Richie Martin knocked a ball toward center. Lopez dived to try and catch it but missed the ball, allowing Martin to reach base safely with an unusual single. After Bisons’ pitcher Jimmy Burnette walked third baseman Jake Alu, Downs tied it up with a double into center to score Martin to make it 2-2.
That’s how the score remained through nine, as the Red Wings stranded runners at third in the seventh and eighth and then stranded the winning run at second in the ninth. For the 10th time in 2023, the Red Wings went into extra innings.
The Bisons took the lead in the top of the inning despite not having a hit, with a runner scoring on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.
In the bottom of the inning, Blankenhorn just missed a home run, sending a ball to deep left-center to move “ghost runner” Drew Millas to third, bringing left fielder Jake Noll up with one out. Noll fell behind 0-2 to Buffalo pitcher Matt Peacock before hitting it to left center to score Millas on a double and tie the game 3-3. However, the Red Wings failed to strike the winning blow again, leaving Noll at second.
In the top of the 11th, Tommy Romero finished the stealth no-hitter, throwing a perfect 1-2-3 inning. Red Wings staff was still researching to figure out the last time that Rochester had 27 outs without a hit, but the last official, full nine-inning no-hitter for the Red Wings, was in 2014, when Trevor May and Logan Darnell combined for a bizarre no-hitter that began on July 24 in Durham before being suspended due to inclement weather before Darnell finished the final six innings on August 11 in Rochester.
In the bottom half of the 11th, a scary scene occurred at first base, as Alu collided with Peacock on a 3-1 putout. Although Alu was fine, Peacock fell to the ground in pain. However, the pitcher was able to throw the ball home to dissuade Richie Martin from trying to score from third, a move that ultimately would win Buffalo the game. Peacock was helped to his feet and brought to the Buffalo clubhouse on a cart. The Red Wings could not get Martin home, sending the game to the 12th.
It was there that Rochester’s luck ran out, as designated hitter Tanner Morris led off the inning with a line drive single to left, to score the ghost runner and move the Bisons ahead, 4-3. Another runner scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 5-3.
Although the Red Wings would cut into the lead with a two-out RBI single by Jacob Nottingham in the bottom half to make it 5-4, they would ultimately leave the bases loaded in defeat.
The Red Wings (4-4 in second half, two games back) continue their series with the thruway rival Bisons (4-3 in second half, 1.5 games back) on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. Right-hander Joan Adon (2-5, 4.81) is scheduled to take the mound for Rochester, while Buffalo will send out righty Hagen Danner (0-1, 5.79) for what is expected to be a “bullpen day.”
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