Red Wings pull ahead late, win back-and-forth game against Buffalo, 8-5

BY DAN GLICKMAN

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra made its annual appearance at Innovative Field on Saturday night, but the game beforehand was hardly harmonious, as the Rochester Red Wings and Buffalo Bisons traded leads, stranded runners and made errors until finally third baseman Jose Tena and right fielder Nick Schnell put the Wings up for good in the seventh, 6-5 thanks to a key double and Buffalo’s costly fifth and final error. Rochester would ultimately win 8-5.

“[The Bisons] were trying to give it to us early, and we didn’t take advantage of it,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “But in the end, we did, and that made a big difference for us. It’s hard to win games when you make five errors. We’ve been on that side of it before, but fortunately for us, we took advantage [today].”

Down 5-4 and with one out, Yohandy Morales singled to right. Up came Tena, who had already hit a home run earlier in the game but had also committed a fielding error in the first. After taking two balls, the Dominican left-handed hitter found a fastball from AAA newcomer Devereaux Harrison left in the center of the zone and turned on it, driving it sharply into left to score Morales with an RBI double.

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“He’d had some tough plays at third that I know he thought he should have made, but he made up for it driving in some big runs,” said LeCroy.

It would be an error for Buffalo mixed with never-say-die baserunning from Schnell that put the Wings ahead for the final time. With two outs and Tena on second, Schnell jumped on the first pitch and drove it to left-center, where it looked like Jonatan Clase would make an easy catch to end the inning. But Clase instead dropped it for Buffalo’s fifth error of the game. Tena scored, and Schnell kept running, all the way to third.

“It’s super-important to respect the game and play the game hard,” said Schnell about his hustle even as the play seemed at first to be a routine deep flyout. “That’s one thing I feel like has been instilled in me growing up and playing the game. You only play the game for so long, so you’ve got to play as hard as you can every chance you get.”

Although Schnell’s hard play ended up not leading to any additional runs, as he got stranded at third, the Red Wings would get valuable insurance in the eighth, when CJ Stubbs and Nasim Nunez both reached on infield bunt singles before Robert Hassell III laid down a sacrifice to bunt get both of them into scoring position. It was something of an rare move for the outfielder who has been the Red Wings’ top hitter since his demotion from Washington, but was an important part of his development and the result of an instruction from Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez, according to LeCroy.

“Davey wanted me to make sure that I was giving Hassell and the guys the opportunities to bunt, because he’s going to bunt, he’s going to sac-bunt, he wants them to bunt for a base hit,” he said. That was the perfect opportunity there in that spot to add on [to the lead].”

With two runners in scoring position after Hassell’s sacrifice, Yohandy Morales drove in the final two runs of the game with a ground ball up the middle to make it 8-5.

“Morales was a big hit, so there were a lot of good things, not only from our team winning, but from a development standpoint for these young kids when they get called up,” said LeCroy. “Because Davey’s going to have hit and runs, he’s going to have them bunt, he likes to bunt for base hits.”

Before the Red Wings had their decisive hits, the earlier innings were a back-and-forth affair. The Bisons jumped ahead immediately with a solo shot to left from Michael Stefanic to lead off the game and give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The Red Wings struck back in the second, taking advantage of an error by Buffalo second baseman Orelvis Martinez before Hassell III singled to right to score Darren Baker before right-fielder Riley Tirotta misplayed the ball, allowing Stubbs to come around and score to give the Wings a 2-1 lead. The Bisons evened it up, 2-2, in the top of the third with an RBI single from Alan Roden, and then the Red Wings answered back in the bottom half with a solo home run from Schnell to put the score to 3-2.

It continued as the game went on. Buffalo shortstop Josh Rivera evened it up with a solo shot to start the fourth, then Martinez put Buffalo ahead, 4-3, with a lead-off shot to left-center in the fifth. Tena ensured the Red Wings wouldn’t stay behind for long, smashing a 458-foot homer to right-center with an out in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game again, 4-4. Two straight doubles from Buffalo to open the seventh, however, put the Wings down 5-4 before the rallies in the seventh and eighth.

On the mound, Andrew Alvarez started the game and finished with a no-decision while allowing four earned runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings, but also worked his way out of several key spots, including escaping bases-loaded jams in the first and third.

“Alvie had a something of a rough go,” said LeCroy. “He had to fight through every inning except one, but he did a nice job, he made the pitches to end some big spots where the game could have went in another direction. So hats off to him, he kept us in it.”

Joan Adon earned the win (2-2) with a hitless 1.1 innings of relief, while Konnor Pilkington earned his second save with a hitless 1.2 innings to finish off the game.

Rochester concludes its series with the Bisons on Sunday, when they send right-hander Bryce Conley (0-0, 1.50) against Buffalo righty Anders Tolhurst (3-3, 5.82). The first 1,000 fans will get Bruce the Bat Dog bobbleheads, and Bruce himself will be fetching bats before taking part in a Meet and Pet. In addition, the Red Wings will see help arrive back from Washington, as catcher Drew Millas will return from his stint with the Nationals, filling in for the injured Keibert Ruiz. LeCroy expects that Millas will be in the starting lineup.