Red Wings trampled by Bisons

BY JONATHAN SKUZA

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – – The force was not strong with the Rochester Red Wings Friday evening during their celebration of Star Wars night as they fell 19-3 to Buffalo Bisons.

“These are one of those games you want to flush away and be done with it,” Red Wing’s manager Matt LeCroy said.

Star Wars night was not the only celebration happening at Innovative Field on Friday as designated hitter Franmil Reyes celebrated his 28th birthday with solid game at the plate and got the opportunity to pitch in the ninth inning.

“Hopefully, he gets his bat going,” LeCroy said. “We need him, we need him to hit. He gets the ability to do that and we just need to do it a little bit more consistently.”

Offensively Reyes had a night to remember with a 457-foot solo home run to left field in the second inning after the Red Wings had fallen behind 6-0. Then he had an RBI base hit in the sixth inning to help push across the second Rochester run. Reyes’ home run became the longest home run by a Red Wing this season after he surpassed Travis Blankenhorn’s go-ahead grand slam that 455-feet the night prior.

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“I’ve hit it way farther than that and it doesn’t surprise me at all,” Reyes said jokingly, “It’s good to feel good at the plate and when I feel good at the plate and I hit the ball on the barrel and it’ll go out of the park.”

Prior to tonight, Reyes had pitched once in the MLB when pitched an inning for the Chicago Cubs in 2022 where he recorded a strikeout. Friday evening’s pitching performance was one the right-handed slugger would like to forget much like the rest of the game for Rochester.

“It’s awesome,” Reyes said. “I was just trying to have fun and try to help the team.”

Reyes was not the only position player that got to pitch for Rochester on Friday as Jacob Nottingham got in on the pitching action as well. Nottingham was able to record three outs for the Red Wings in the ninth inning and get a loud roar from the home crowd that stuck around.

“Anytime you’re sitting here and getting smoked and the crowd is kind of out of it and you have him come in and get the crowd going. You hate it to be that way, but sometimes that’s baseball.”

Both Nottingham and Reyes hit a solo round tripper and got some time on the bump for Rochester.

Recently signed Luis Cessa got the start on the mound for Rochester. Cessa pitched two-innings surrendering four earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out one Bison. The Red Wings used four bullpen arms before they let Reyes and Nottingham throw.

Luis De Los Santos led the Bison offense with a 2-for-4 effort, five RBI and a grand slam late in the ballgame. Rafael Lantigua had four hits and three RBI out of the lead-off spot including a three-run home run in the second inning. L.J. Talley also drove in three while going 3-for-6 with a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Wes Parsons pitched six innings of two-run baseball with eight punch outs for Buffalo on Friday.

The Rochester Red Wings (5-5, 39-44) will look to wipe this game from their memory as they continue the series against the Buffalo Bisons (5-4, 39-45) on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Rochester will send right-handler Wily Peralta (2-6, 6.58) to the bump while Buffalo will start righty Paxton Schultz (1-2, 2.74).