ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings tagged rehabbing Toronto Blue Jays pitching phenom Trey Yesavage for three runs on Wednesday, forcing him out of the game with two men on in the bottom of the fifth.
The game ultimately was decided, however, against the Buffalo bullpen, as a three-run opposite field home run by catcher Riley Adams put the Red Wings up 6-3 in the sixth, a lead they’d hold for the rest of the game.
Facing 36-year-old eight-season MLB veteran Jesse Hahn, Andres Chaparro drew one of his three walks on the day before Yohandy Morales hit a ball straight up at Hahn, hitting him before falling to the ground. By the time Hahn found the ball, Morales was safe at first for one of his three hits on the day.
Then came Adams, who saw a 92.7 mph sinker from Hahn in the first pitch of the at-bat and rocketed it to right-center at 105 mph for 410-foot three-run home run.
“He’s kind of a sinker/sweep guy, so he just kind of hung that sinker early, thankfully, and I was just trying to be aggressive,” said Adams post-game. The 29-year-old now has two home runs on the year as he shares time with Harry Ford behind the plate.
Earlier in the game, much of the focus was on Yesavage, a 22-year-old out of Eastern Carolina University who remains Toronto’s number one prospect on MLB.com Pipeline.
Although this wasn’t Yesavage’s first start in Rochester – the right-hander from Pennsylvania threw three perfect innings at what was then-called Innovative Field in early September of last season – but it was his first appearance since becoming a sensation during the 2025 postseason. There, making his fourth start at the MLB level, he baffled the New York Yankees in game two of the American League Division Series, striking out a Toronto postseason record 11 batters while holding the Yankees hitless in a 5.1 inning appearance. Yesavage continued to impress during the Blue Jays’ postseason run, pitching in several key games, including setting a rookie World Series record by striking out 12 Dodgers in game five of the World Series.
A shoulder impingement late in March forced him to start the season the injured list, which led him to Rochester on Wednesday.
“We had some good at-bats against him,” said LeCroy. “It gives these guys a little more ammo, and they seemed to focus a little bit more, to prove that they can hit a big league guy.”
Among those who “hit” the big league guy were two players with big league experience themselves: Dylan Crews and Andres Chaparro.
Crews, who says he’s taking it day by day and pitch by pitch as he tries to return to the big leagues, only needed one pitch to put the Red Wings ahead first, finding a 93.6 MPH fastball left dangerously close to the middle of the zone and depositing it over the fence in right-center for the opposite field home run to make it 1-0.
“He’s got really good height and extension on his pitches,” said Crews, who finished the day 2-for-4. “You really gotta push him down a little bit, but also know where the bottom [of the strike zone] is at, so you don’t want chase down. You want to box [in the strike zone] as much as you can to get him in the zone, and I think we did a pretty good job on that today.”
After Buffalo got a run back in the top of the second on an Alex Stone double, it was Chaparro’s turn. After fouling off a pitch, he found another Yesavage pitch – a hung slider near the center of the zone – and rocketed it 106.3 MPH over the left field fence into the Buffalo bullpen. The Red Wings later added another run in the second when Morales scored on a double-play grounder to make it 3-1.
While a two-run home run in the top of the third by RJ Schreck put Buffalo even with the Wings, 3-3, the Red Wings continued to threaten, getting two men on in the fifth before Yesavage was removed after hitting his rehab pitch count. In 4.1 innings, the starter gave up seven hits, three earned runs, a walk, and two home runs while striking out five.
Although the relief pitcher who came in – Hahn – was able to prevent the Red Wings from scoring in the fifth, his luck ran out in the sixth with Adams’ home run. From there, the Red Wings’ bullpen held on, although not without some scary moments in the ninth, when the Bisons got the tying run to the plate with no outs against Eddy Yean. Yean escaped, however, getting Yohendrick Pinango to fly out, striking out Riley Tirotta, and then getting Schreck to fly out to left to end the game.
It was redemption for Yean, who’d given up a late home run and took the loss in Tuesday’s series opener.
“I didn’t want to have to use him, but if there was going to be a save situation, I thought it was a good opportunity to get him back in, get him back out there,” said LeCroy. “He battled, he had some traffic, but he made pitches and got it done.
Eddy’s going to take the ball whenever [I] give it to him, and that’s what’s so special about him – he’s never going to shy away from taking the ball.”
With the win, the Red Wings move to 9-8 on the season, putting them again above .500.
“[It was] a good bounce-back win after a tough one last night,” said LeCroy. “Hopefully that carries the momentum into tomorrow.”
The series between the Thruway rivals continues on Thursday at 6:05 p.m., with Rochester expected to send out righty Luis Perales (0-2, 3.68) against right-hander Grant Rogers (0-2, 8.71).
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