ROCHESTER, N.Y. – After splitting the first two games of their final home series of the season against the Buffalo Bisons, the Rochester Red Wings had a chance to move ahead in the series on Thursday. It looked, however, like once again the team would be let down by its bullpen, which blew a 5-4 lead in the seventh and then allowed Buffalo to jump ahead 7-5 in the top of the ninth.
But then, with two men in scoring position in the ninth but only one strike left to work with, second baseman Jose Tena caught a 1-2 sweeper from Justin Bruihl in the zone and smashed it to center at 104.4 MPH over the wall, sending Red Wings fans home happy with an 8-7 walk-off victory.
“I’m happy for them,” said Red Wings Manager Matt LeCroy of his team. “They worked hard all year long, and they’ve battled through some tough losses.”
“[Tena is] still developing as a player, but he has a hit tool that is hard to teach, and it showed up tonight.”
Indeed, Tena’s home run was his second hit of the night, having doubled earlier in the game before scoring. The Dominican left-handed hitter’s hit-for-average tool has been showing up more often in September, going .289 this month including a base hit in eight of his last nine games.
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The walk-off win, the second of the series for the Red Wings after a extra-innings win on Tuesday, was the end result of a back-and-forth game.
Buffalo struck first early. After both teams went scoreless in the first, the Bisons got to veteran Red Wings starter Adrian Sampson in the top of the second. With one out, first baseman Riley Tirotta was hit by pitch, and then shortstop Josh Kasevich doubled to get two men into scoring position. Where the runners were ultimately didn’t matter, however, as the next batter – second baseman Michael Stefanic – got hold of an 80.1 MPH slider and deposited it just over the left field fence to put Buffalo ahead, 3-0.
Rochester struck back quickly, however, as center fielder Nick Schnell led off the bottom half of the second with a walk. It appeared that the inning would die quickly after that, however, as the next two batters struck out against Buffalo start Elieser Hernandez. Juan Yepez, C.J. Stubbs, and J.T. Arruda each hit singles one after the other, though, bringing in two runs and cutting the Buffalo lead to 3-2. Tena later scored the tying run in the third, leading off with his double before later scoring on a Nick Schnell groundout to even the game at 3-3.
The Bisons jumped ahead again with two outs in the fifth thanks to a rehabbing All-Star: Anthony Santander. The Blue Jays outfielder, working his way back from a shoulder injury, caught a 1-2 change-up down from Sampson and golfed it well over the right field wall, depositing it 396 feet away in the back of the Red Wings bullpen.
Aside from the home run, LeCroy was happy with how the Red Wings’ pitchers handled Santander, who was an All-Star and Silver Slugger in 2024 for the Orioles. He’d ultimately finish the game 1-for-3 with two walks.
“We kept him off balance for the most part,” said LeCroy. “He’s a big leaguer for a reason, he got a good pitch, but I think overall we did a nice job of keeping him to what he did.”
The Red Wings again came back, largely because of a pair of triples. The first, from Arruda, who led off the bottom of the fifth by smoking a pitch 105.8 MPH to right center. It looked like it would go over the fence for a home run, but it just barely missed. Arruda had no idea if it was gone or not, but he kept motoring into third.
“Obviously, I wanted it to be out,” he said. “But I had no idea, so I just put my head down.”
It was a good decision, as the throw in from right fielder RJ Schreck was misplayed by third baseman Buddy Kennedy, allowing the ball to roll out of play, bringing Arruda home on what was in essence a “Little League Home Run” tying the game, 4-4.
Later in the inning, Yohandy Morales hit another triple for the Wings, sending the ball sharply to center and powering to third. He’d then come home on a Schnell single, putting Rochester ahead 5-4.
Like so many games this season, the lead didn’t hold once the starter left the game. Buffalo scored one off Eduardo Salazar in the seventh, and then two in the ninth off Ryan Loutos to move ahead 7-5.
The Rochester hitters, though, wouldn’t go quietly, as Juan Yepez led off the ninth with a bloop that fell between three Bisons fielders in shallow left field. Stubbs then singled to left. The next two batters were put out, however, bringing up Tena in time for his walk-off homer.
The Red Wings and Bisons continue their series on Friday at 6:05 p.m. Rochester expects to send out right-hander Riley Cornelio (1-3, 6.26) against right-handed pitcher and 2022 All-Star Alek Manoah (1-1, 3.09).
Wings hitters gave them several exciting late inning wins during the season. Too bad the bullpen nullified so many of them with unacceptable performances night after night. One can only wonder how things could have gone for the Wings in 2025, if they had any semblance of a pitching staff. I can’t think of a Wings team in my lifetime with a more inept bullpen than this one. And it was ALL of them, not just one or two bad eggs. Wings had nobody who could come in and close out a game.
Last nights win was fun. Tena looked real bad on his two strikes. Never thought he would be able to connect for a HR. Very strange season. Nats have a ton of homework to do to flush their entire pitching stable from top to bottom. They won’t lose 100 games but they are still one of the very worst teams in MLB, with only Rockies and Whitesox being worse.
Wings will probably end 2nd half 7 or 8 games under .500.
After the exciting walk-off win, the bullpen turns a 3-2
Wings lead into a 4-3 Wings loss…just like that. This will continue to happen until they close the curtain on 2025.