BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Late power from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders sent the Rochester Red Wings down in defeat on Saturday, as two home runs in the top of the seventh off Red Wings’ reliever Erik Tolman flipped a 3-2 Red Wings lead to a 4-3 Scranton advantage.
After Nationals organization newcomer Chandler Champlain gave the Red Wings three innings of scoreless relief while allowing one hit and striking out three, left-hander Erik Tolman came in for the seventh and allowed solo shots to Seth Brown and Paul DeJong. While the Red Wings (4-4) got the tying run on in the eighth and the winning run on first in the ninth, they were unable to get the runs home, sending them to their first three-game losing streak of the season.
The loss overshadowed a good day from catcher Riley Adams. After missing out on the MLB roster out of spring training, the 29-year-old veteran of parts of five big league seasons hasn’t seen many starts for himself as he shares time behind the plate with Harry Ford, but he made the most of his start on Saturday. With two outs and a man on in the second, Adams jumped on an 0-2 fastball from Dom Hamel and rocketed it over the left field fence at 108.6 MPH. The 395 foot home run tied the game at two. Adams later excelled on defense as well, throwing out Max Schuemann when he tried to steal second in the fifth inning.
“Riley can play,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “He’s got power, he can really throw. He’s one of the best throwers in baseball, one of the best arms. He’s got one of the fastest bats. When he gets his opportunity to make the most of it like he did today, he’ll find his way to the big leagues, either with us or with somebody else.”
After Adams tied the game in the second, Rochester took the lead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to good base-running and some mistakes by the Scranton (5-3) defense. Second baseman Phillip Glasser singled with one out, and then stole second to get into scoring position. Hamel then had a wild pitch against Zack Short, sending Glasser towards third. Henry made a throw to try and get the out, but the throw went into the outfield, allowing Glasser to come in make it 3-2 on the error.
On the pitching side, right-hander Luis Perales, rated the No. 6 prospect in the Nationals organization by MLB.com Pipeline, started on the mound. The right-hander had to work hard during what ended up being a two-inning stint before he was taken out due to hitting a pitch-count as he recovers from injuries suffered last season. The Venezuelan, an arrival over the winter from the Boston organization, walked two in the first inning before escaping without any damage, but allowed three hits and two runs in the second – a sacrifice fly by Paul DeJong and an RBI grounder by Payton Henry to give Scranton an early 2-0 lead.
The bullpen held the lead until the seventh, with Champlain – a recent callup from AA Harrisburg who spent previous years in the Royals system – taking the bulk with his three innings of work.
“He gave us three good innings of work and kept us in it,” said LeCroy. “He had a good mix. We thought about sending him back out, but he gave us the feeling he was done. He hadn’t faced a hitter in three weeks.”
Tolman, however, proved the weak link on the day. His two home runs given up were an unexpected development for Californian, who had a 0.66 HR/9 rate in 2025 – it’s now 6.75 for 2026.
Orlando Ribalta, Julian Fernandez, and Eddy Yean finished the game to hold the RailRiders at 4-3, but the Wings were unable to equalize, leading to the defeat.
The Red Wings conclude their series with Scranton on Sunday, when the Wings send out righty Andry Lara (0-0, 2.25) against former Rookie of the Year Luis Gil.
“The guys will be ready to go,” says LeCroy. “It’ll be a fun little matchup, and hopefully we’ll play well in all the phases and win.”
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