BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – When it comes to power, Rochester Red Wings utilitymen Trey Lipscomb and Phillip Glasser couldn’t be more different. Lipscomb entered Thursday’s game with the Buffalo Bisons with 28 home runs, making him one of the International League’s leaders in the category. Glasser, meanwhile, had… one.
By the end of the night, Lipscomb had gotten his 29th – the most for a Red Wing in a single season since outfielder Ken Gerhart‘s 28 in 1986. Glasser had gotten the biggest hit of all, however, a one-out RBI single to walk off the Bisons in the bottom of the ninth, 7-6, and keep the Red Wings one game back of the Indianapolis Indians for the IL’s second-half crown.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
“You just gotta know who you are as a baseball player,” said Glasser, who went 2-for-4 with a walk on the night. Glasser hasn’t hit a home run since a solo shot on April 24 in Scranton, and while he says he’d like to have home runs, ultimately getting on base is what matters, especially with heavy hitters like Lipscomb, Yohandy Morales, and Cayden Wallace following him.
Glasser didn’t let the game even reach them on Thursday, however. Liover Peguero led off the ninth against reliever Chase Lee with a “Baltimore Chop” that sent the ball bouncing into the no-man’s land between the pitcher’s mound and second base, letting him beat the throw to first for an infield single. Seaver King followed and hit a sharp grounder that appeared destined for the outfield, only for second baseman Josh Smith to dive and stop it before throwing out King at first, albeit only after Peguero moved to second.
Then it was Glasser’s turn at the plate against Lee. After fouling off the first pitch, he connected on a sinker low, knocking it just out of the reach of a diving Smith and bringing Peguero home to score and end the game.
“[It was] just a good win,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy post-game.
The game was, for most of its duration, a case of Rochester and Buffalo trading three-run innings.
The Red Wings jumped ahead first, in the bottom of the third inning. After Max Romero Jr. popped out, Peguero drew a walk. King followed with an infield single, and while Glasser went down for the second out, Morales followed with a sharp line drive to center to bring in Peguero and give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. Lipscomb then reached on a catcher’s interference to load the bases in time for Cayden Wallace to bring in two runs on a single to right to increase the lead to 3-0.
On the mound, meanwhile, was a newcomer making his AAA debut. Right-handed pitcher Jack Cebert, the No. 14 prospect in the Washington organization according to MLB.com Pipeline and a key part of the Luis Garcia Jr. trade with the Yankees earlier this year, was not only the day’s starter, but represented the first time in weeks that a dedicated starting pitcher other than Chandler Champlain had taking the mound to begin a game for the Rochester Red Wings.
Cebert did well through the first three innings, holding the Bisons scoreless and escaping a runners-at-the-corners jam during the second. Just a year out of Texas Tech, the 24-year-old had also secured his first two AAA strikeouts, with the ball from his first destined for a display case at his parents’ home.
He’d hit trouble in the fourth inning, however, but not entirely because of his fault. Although he allowed a leadoff single to Sean Keys and then walked Yohendrick Pinango, what seemed to be a double-play ball followed against Nick Goodwin. King booted the ball, however, for an error, loading the bases. The very next batter, Peyton Williams, hit the ball at King again, and this time the shortstop air-mailed a throw over the head of Morales, allowing two runs to score and make it 3-2. After hitting Carlos Mendoza, Cebert was taken out of the game for Riley Cornelio, who’d get the next two out but then walk Josh Smith with the bases loaded to tie the game at three.
Cebert ultimately finished the game with three innings pitched, allowing four hits and three runs, although only one was earned.
“He made his pitches there in his last inning of work, we just didn’t make the plays for him,” said LeCroy.
And as for King, who made two errors in as many plays? LeCroy believes it was ultimately just a bad day, not a sign of any deeper problems.
“He just had one of those days where he didn’t make plays,” said LeCroy. “It’s going to happen sometimes, it won’t happen a lot, but when it does, we got to pick him up. He’s going to be fine, he’s going to be a really, really good major league play.”
The Red Wings did pick King up in the bottom of the fifth. Glasser and Morales each singled with one out to put runners at the corners against Javen Coleman, and then Lipscomb came to the plate. On the first pitch he saw, he took it to the opposite field, sending the ball up against the railings of the “Foul Pole Porch” in right field. At first, umpires did not indicate a home run, but they then assembled and confirmed the three-run shot, giving the Red Wings another lead, this time 6-3.
Lipscomb, who saw his 20-game hitting streak come to an end on Wednesday despite a Red Wings win, again credited his preparation as well as some offseason work with Driveline (a play development and training organization) for his career-high home run season. Before this season, the most home runs he’d had in a season of organized baseball came during his 2022 season as a Tennessee Volunteer, when he hit 22. As a professional, his previous high was 14 across A-ball and AA in 2023. Last season he’d hit 11 for Rochester.
“I knew I had it in me,” he said of his time working with Driveline. “I just had to go somewhere where they could basically expose my weaknesses, so I could get better at them.”
Obviously it worked. With 29 home runs, Lipscomb is now just one behind Terry Crowley, the last Red Wing to hit 30 or more home runs in a season, in 1977. Russ Derry holds the all-time record for single season home runs for the Red Wings, with 42 in 1949.
Buffalo answered back in the next half-inning, the top of the sixth, by jumping on reliever Matt Krook. All three batters to face Krook reached, loading the bases and forcing LeCroy to call upon Eddy Yean. Yean was able to get Ismael Munguia to ground into what looked like a likely out, but Morales committed an error at first, allowing a run to score and keep the bases loaded without any outs. Although Yean got the next two batters to each ground out, a run scored on each of the grounders, and so by the time Keys popped out to Morales it was 6-6. That’s how it would remain until Glasser’s hit in the bottom of the ninth.
Rochester and Buffalo continue the series on Friday, when Rochester sends out right-hander Isaac Lyon in his AAA debut against Buffalo’s righty, Richard Gallardo (1-3). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.
Lyon, the 22-year-old son of 12-season big league pitcher Brandon Lyon, joined the Nationals organization in the same transaction last season that brought Harry Ford to the system, and is 8-5 with a 3.26 ERA across three levels of the minors this season. LeCroy says he hasn’t been able to see him throw in person yet, but that he’s heard good things.
“I heard he really fights hard and compete, and I’m looking forward to seeing him go,” he said.
Leave a Reply