BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Fred Costello, the long-time organist for the Rochester Red Wings, isn’t afraid of having a little bit of fun when the action demands it. So when a light snow started falling during Sunday’s cold and wintry game between the Red Wings and the Buffalo Bisons – a game that had already been delayed at the start for almost an hour by bad weather – he soon started playing Christmas music.
It was a merry one for the Red Wings, though who took advantage of an excellent start by Riley Cornelio and six runs across the three middle innings to defeat Buffalo, 6-4, to secure a 3-3 series split and head above .500 with an 11-10 record. The 25-year-old righty went five innings, allowing three hits, a walk, and one earned run while striking out nine.
Cornelio, who grew up in Colorado, was used to it.
“I felt good, I definitely had some cool games when I was growing up and stuff,” he said post-game. “But ultimately I was just trying to compete.”
“He really had it,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “He was really good, he gave up a run there late there, but he was pretty dominant. His slider was really good, with lots of swings and misses.”
The performance by Cornelio was especially important as it came after the call-up of lefty Andrew Alvarez, who with Cornelio has anchored the start of the Wings rotation for much of the season. Alvarez was sent back down after earning a win in relief for the Nationals on Sunday, but it’s likely he may return to the big club in the future.
In contrast to Cornelio, Andrew Pinckney – who was born and raised in Alabama before playing for the Crimson Tide collegiately – says he’s gotten a bit used to the cold from his time in Rochester, but that it still bothers him. That didn’t stop him from an important day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
And those two RBIs were important ones, coming with the bases loaded but two outs in the fourth of what was at the time a scoreless game. Facing a 2-2 count against lefty Josh Fleming, Pinckney found a changeup low and golfed it into the air. It hung for a bit, and many thought a fielder would get to it to end the inning – but they didn’t. It dropped harmlessly into center, allowing Dylan Crews and Andres Chaparro to score to make it 2-0. Phillip Glasser followed, singling in Riley Adams from third to expand the lead to 3-0.
“I wasn’t trying to do too much and swing for the fences,” said Pinckney of the at-bat. “I was trying to get a single and try and get some runs across.”
Pinckney – who’d earlier hit a double that ended in the bottom of the second with Riley Adams getting thrown out at home – later reached base for a third time in the sixth inning, albeit in a most unusual way.
With the Wings now up 4-1 after Crews brought home Yohandy Morales with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, Pinckney stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the sixth against Jesse Hahn. He struck out, but the ball got by Buffalo catcher Adam Hackenberg, who then threw away the ball when he tried to record the out at first, allowing Pinckney to end up at second. He’d later come around to score on a Harry Ford single and an error by Bisons shortstop Josh Rivera.
“It’s definitely not the way you want to get on second base, but yeah, it was a dropped third strike and I ran hard and ended up on second and ended up scoring,” he said.
The play to bring in Pinckney was one of two straight errors for Rivera, who threw away a grounder from Crews immediately after to allow Ford to score and make it 6-2.
While a shaky appearance by Eddy Yean in the ninth allowed Buffalo to add two runs to the final, Rochester held on for the win.
The 2026 Red Wings have so far generally hovered around .500, usually staying just over. At 11-10, they are a half-game back of Syracuse and Worcester for the International League East division lead for the first half, but three games back of the Memphis Redbirds for the league-wide lead that would earn them a playoff spot.
Befitting their relatively average record so far, the Red Wings have not excelled at much, but are rarely among the league’s worst at anything either. They rank fifth in the 20-team league in batting average (.252) and eighth in hits (169), but are 13th in runs scored (95) and 16th in home runs (15). The team’s on-base-plus-slugging, or OPS, is 13th (.713).
The pitching has been more uneven, with a 5.76 ERA that is 19th in the league, but a better-than-average opponent batting average of .245 – good for the eighth best in the IL. Cornelio’s 2.45 ERA, meanwhile, is tied for ninth in the league among qualifying pitchers, and he is tied with Alvarez for sixth in strikeouts, with 27. In fact, the staff’s 203 strikeouts is the sixth-best in the IL, overall. A major issue has been the long-ball: the Wings’ staff has allowed 28 home runs, the fourth-most in on the circuit. And like last season, the Red Wings’ relief corps has been a weakness: the team’s 7.62 ERA in the seventh inning or later is not only the worst in the league, but a full point behind the Iowa Cubs’ 6.54 late-inning ERA, which is the second-worse.
And yet, the Red Wings remain above .500 and in the race for a playoff spot early in the season. It’s a marked improvement over last year’s squad, which had only four wins come April 20.
“I’m really happy about where we’re at as a team,” says LeCroy. “We’ve started to come together.”
Up next is a road trip to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, who sit at .500 with a 10-10 record. The Yankees affiliate may be bolstered by some rehabbing players from the majors, as Anthony Volpe and Gerrit Cole (who had an appearance in Rochester during a previous rehab assignment in 2024) have both recently spent time with New York’s AA affiliate and may soon make a jump on their road back to the show.
Regardless, LeCroy expects it to be a tough series – but one he’s looking forward to.
“It’s always a tough place to play and a tough team to play,” he says. “But hopefully we can go in there and battle and win the series.”
Rochester’s opening game in Scranton is Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. The Wings expect to send out Japanese lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara against Yankees right-handed farmhand Brendan Beck.
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