BY DAN GLICKMAN
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game and its assorted festivities are over, but one current member and several former players for the Rochester Red Wings were heavily involved in Atlanta since last Saturday. Here’s a recap of how Red Wings-related players did:
All-Star Futures Game
Marquis Grissom Jr., the lone member of the Rochester Red Wings selected to the All-Star Futures game, pitched the top of the fourth for the National League Futures team against the American League squad managed by his father, Marquis Grissom Sr. After getting Orioles prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. to ground out, Grissom allowed a triple to the Tigers’ Josue Briceno. Although Grissom got the next two men to fly out, Briceno scored on a sacrifice fly by the Rangers’ Sebastian Walcott to put the NL down, 2-0. A four-run bottom of the fourth would put the National League ahead for good, however, earning Grissom the win.
Home Run Derby
Three former Red Wings took part in this season’s Home Run Derby: Nationals outfielder James Wood, Twins outfielder Byron Buxton (with fellow former Red Wing Tommy Watkins as his batting practice pitcher), and Athletics designated hitter Brent Rooker.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
In the first round, Wood opened the contest with 16 home runs, including a 486-foot shot that was at the time the longest in a non-Coors Field home run derby since 2019. Rooker did Wood one better, hitting 17 home runs, while Byron Buxton did the best of the ex-Wings trio with 20. At the end of the opening round, however, only Buxton had enough to advance to the semi-finals. Wood failed to get enough home runs to make the top four, and while Rooker had tied Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in total home runs, his longest home run was found to have been just an inch shorter than Raleigh’s, allowing the Mariner to move on to the next round.
In the second round, Buxton went head-to-head with Tampa Rays infielder Junior Caminero. He started off slow, however, and ultimately fell to the Tampa third baseman, 8-7. Caminero would go on to lose to Raleigh in the finals.
All-Star Game
Although four former Red Wings played in the game, the star was likely Rooker, who played for the Wings in 2019. Just a day after his Home Run Derby appearance, Rooker kept the home runs coming. First, in the top of the seventh, Rooker hit a pinch-hit three-run home run to left-center off Giants closer Randy Rodriguez to make the game 6-3, beginning an AL comeback. Later, during the first-ever “Swing Off” to break the game’s 6-6 tie after nine innings, Rooker hit two more home runs, although the AL would ultimately fall short to the National League.
Rooker is the seventh former Red Wing to hit at least one home run in the All-Star Game in their career: Stan Musial, Cal Ripken Jr., Red Schoendienst, Brian Dozier, Buxton, and Johnny Mize are the others. In addition, other players-such as Ruben Sierra and Joey Gallo– homered in the All-Star Game before coming to Rochester later in their careers. Still more, such as Frank Robinson and Ken Boyer, hit home runs in the All-Star Game before serving as manager of the Red Wings.
Had the American League pulled off the comeback and won the game, it’s possible that Rooker would have been a candidate to be All-Star Game MVP- if he had, he’d have joined Ripken as the only former Red Wing to win the award, which has been given out since 1962. Ripken won twice- in 1991 and 2001.
Gore made quick work of the American League in the top of the fifth, forcing three straight groundouts from Caminero, Javier Baez, and Jacob Wilson.
Buxton, playing in his home state of Georgia, came into the game in the fifth inning as a defensive replacement. At the plate, he went 1-for-2, doubling in the ninth before scoring on a double from Bobby Witt Jr.
Wood had only a brief appearance in the All-Star Game, grounding out as pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Although the All-Star festivities are over, the All-Star Break continues until Friday night, when the Red Wings resume their season in Lehigh Valley.
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