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One afternoon last season, Rochester Red Wings play-by-play announcer Josh Whetzel interviewed Drew Millas for his pregame show the day after he had legged out a triple and he asked Millas if he thought he was the fastest catcher in all of baseball.
Between innings of the Red Wings’ 10-1 blowout over Lehigh Valley in the home opener Tuesday at sunny but frigid Innovative Field, Whetzel recalled that Millas considered the question, then without reservation said yeah, he thought he was.
“Yeah, I am,” Millas said, doubling down when asked again following the Wings’ first victory in a home opener since 2016. “I know that. I mean, I train in the offseason. No other catcher trains on the track in the offseason but me so I'm pretty confident in it.”
You won’t get an argument from anyone who was in attendance as they watched the 6-foot-1, 204-pound Millas lash triples in his first two at bats before taking a nice, leisurely stroll after his third at bat when he hit one over the fence in right for a two-run homer.
It was quite a day for the 27-year-old as he also walked in the seventh and finished with five RBI, this after a rough spring when he managed just one hit in 22 plate appearances with the parent Washington Nationals down in Florida, then went 1-for-8 in the first two regular-season games for Rochester last weekend in Buffalo.
Those struggles disappeared on a day when the Wings pummeled Iron Pigs starter Nabil Crismatt for six runs on eight hits and two walks in his four innings of work.
“I mean, the spring was what it was,” said Millas. “It's hard when you're playing in the end of games and your routines are just off in the spring, which is pretty normal. I never really have great springs, so I wasn't really too worried about it coming in, but it was good to kind of get some feedback on all the work I put in in the offseason from today.”
A glance at Millas’ baseball reference page shows that counting his time at Missouri State University, summer league baseball, all levels in the minor leagues, and 31 major league games with Washington, Millas had only 13 triples in 2,311 plate appearances, though three of those came last season for the Red Wings. So, tripling in back-to-back at bats Tuesday was quite a thing.
“I wasn't really trying to do too much, it just kind of happened,” he said. “I don't think I've ever had two triples in my life, so that was pretty cool, but I wasn't really thinking about it, to be honest. I was just running.”
The Wings jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first when Robert Hassel singled and stole second, Juan Yepez walked, and both men scored on Millas’ first triple as his shot to right got past a diving Gabriel Roncones.
In the third, Hassel led off with a fly ball to left-center that was lost in the sun by center fielder Justin Crawford for a double and then Brady House ripped a triple to left-center to make it 3-0. Franchy Cordero lined a single up the middle to score House, and Millas’ second triple to right chased home Cordero to make it 5-0.
In the fourth, Nasim Nunez walked, moved to second on a throwing error by Crawford, and raced home on a single by House; in the fifth, Franchy Cordero singled and Millas followed with his two-run homer; and in the seventh, four walks and a single by Hassel increased the Wings’ lead to 10-1.
Left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who became the first Japanese player signed directly out of Asia by the parent Nationals, was supposed to make his first professional start in the United States Sunday in Buffalo but the game was rained out, so he was pushed into the Opening Day start.
The 27-year-old Ogasawara pitched nine years in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Chunichi Dragons, earning an All-Star nomination in 2023. He had a career 3.67 ERA and 1.291 WHIP and struck out seven batters per nine innings in his homeland.
He fell behind 3-0 to the first batter of the game, Otto Kemp, but rallied to strike him out. He then got Justin Crawford on a grounder to second and struck out Payton Henry to complete a tidy 14-pitch debut inning.
Ogasawara retired the first eight men he faced before Rafael Lantigua singled to right, and then Kemp followed with a single to left but Darren Baker gunned down Lantigua at third with House putting down the tag to end the third inning.
He went on throw just 67 pitches in six efficient innings, allowing just one run on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The run came in the fourth when Crawford tripled and scored on Henry’s sacrifice fly to center.
“Yeah, he's really good,” Millas said. “It's really a weapon to be able to use him kind of like a multi-faceted pitcher. He throws the whole kitchen sink at you, and you've got to worry about all of it. But it's all pretty good. So I was impressed with how he pounded the zone and just how poised he was throughout the whole process.”
On the performance of Ogasawara: “He pitched extremely well. He had a rough go of it in spring training and to see him come out here and do what he did with the baseball … he landed some curve balls and he got some swings and misses on the changeup, but more importantly, he was in the strike zone more than he was in spring training. And to be able to go six innings the first time out was pretty impressive. Hopefully he can build on that and get some confidence.”
On House going 2-for-5 with two RBI on hard contact: “He's got that ability. I've seen it before. Once he gets in the groove of things, I don't think he'll be here that long if he can do what I know he can do. Last year he got a little taste of Triple-A, and now it's his time. Hopefully he'll continue to get hot and go and put some pressure on people in the big leagues.”
The temperature was not an April Fools’ Day joke. According to my trusty weather app, the first-pitch temperature was 38 degrees and with a breeze at 12 mph, the feels like temperature was a frosty 30.
Not surprisingly, the majority of the ballpark was empty. The announced attendance was 4,220, but the actual in-house count was probably closer to around 2,500. Those brave souls will be rewarded with a free ticket to any remaining home game in April because the Wings’ annual 50-degree guarantee was not met as the thermometer never came close to 50.
This was the second-earliest home opener in Red Wings history, topped only by 2023 when they played their first game at Innovative Field on March 31 against the Iron Pigs. That day the temperature was 47 degrees and the crowd was announced at 4,791.
In 2024, with the Iron Pigs again as the first opponent, the opener was postponed four consecutive days because of rain and the team didn’t get to play until Saturday, April 6.
“The weather was brutal and I thought it was a pretty good crowd despite the weather,.” LeCroy said. “And for us to come out and play the way we did, we did a lot of really good things on the bases, our at-bats were good and obviously we pitched well. So a lot of good things that happened and to win on Opening Day, it makes it a little bit more sweeter.”
The opening homestand continues for the rest of the week against the Iron Pigs. The Wednesday and Friday games start at 6:05, while Thursday, Saturday and Sunday the first pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
On Saturday, Bruce the Bat Dog will make his first appearance of the season and Flower City Group will be donating $100 to Bruce Bettering the Community Campaign for each bat retrieved by Bruce. Proceeds from the Bruce Bettering the Community Campaign are donated to the Veterans Outreach Center and Honor Flight Rochester.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Red Wings win home opener; Here's what happened
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Between innings of the Red Wings’ 10-1 blowout over Lehigh Valley in the home opener Tuesday at sunny but frigid Innovative Field, Whetzel recalled that Millas considered the question, then without reservation said yeah, he thought he was.
“Yeah, I am,” Millas said, doubling down when asked again following the Wings’ first victory in a home opener since 2016. “I know that. I mean, I train in the offseason. No other catcher trains on the track in the offseason but me so I'm pretty confident in it.”
You won’t get an argument from anyone who was in attendance as they watched the 6-foot-1, 204-pound Millas lash triples in his first two at bats before taking a nice, leisurely stroll after his third at bat when he hit one over the fence in right for a two-run homer.
It was quite a day for the 27-year-old as he also walked in the seventh and finished with five RBI, this after a rough spring when he managed just one hit in 22 plate appearances with the parent Washington Nationals down in Florida, then went 1-for-8 in the first two regular-season games for Rochester last weekend in Buffalo.
Those struggles disappeared on a day when the Wings pummeled Iron Pigs starter Nabil Crismatt for six runs on eight hits and two walks in his four innings of work.
“I mean, the spring was what it was,” said Millas. “It's hard when you're playing in the end of games and your routines are just off in the spring, which is pretty normal. I never really have great springs, so I wasn't really too worried about it coming in, but it was good to kind of get some feedback on all the work I put in in the offseason from today.”
A glance at Millas’ baseball reference page shows that counting his time at Missouri State University, summer league baseball, all levels in the minor leagues, and 31 major league games with Washington, Millas had only 13 triples in 2,311 plate appearances, though three of those came last season for the Red Wings. So, tripling in back-to-back at bats Tuesday was quite a thing.
“I wasn't really trying to do too much, it just kind of happened,” he said. “I don't think I've ever had two triples in my life, so that was pretty cool, but I wasn't really thinking about it, to be honest. I was just running.”
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Key moments in the game
The Wings jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first when Robert Hassel singled and stole second, Juan Yepez walked, and both men scored on Millas’ first triple as his shot to right got past a diving Gabriel Roncones.
In the third, Hassel led off with a fly ball to left-center that was lost in the sun by center fielder Justin Crawford for a double and then Brady House ripped a triple to left-center to make it 3-0. Franchy Cordero lined a single up the middle to score House, and Millas’ second triple to right chased home Cordero to make it 5-0.
In the fourth, Nasim Nunez walked, moved to second on a throwing error by Crawford, and raced home on a single by House; in the fifth, Franchy Cordero singled and Millas followed with his two-run homer; and in the seventh, four walks and a single by Hassel increased the Wings’ lead to 10-1.
Japanese pitcher makes American debut
Left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who became the first Japanese player signed directly out of Asia by the parent Nationals, was supposed to make his first professional start in the United States Sunday in Buffalo but the game was rained out, so he was pushed into the Opening Day start.
The 27-year-old Ogasawara pitched nine years in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Chunichi Dragons, earning an All-Star nomination in 2023. He had a career 3.67 ERA and 1.291 WHIP and struck out seven batters per nine innings in his homeland.
He fell behind 3-0 to the first batter of the game, Otto Kemp, but rallied to strike him out. He then got Justin Crawford on a grounder to second and struck out Payton Henry to complete a tidy 14-pitch debut inning.
Ogasawara retired the first eight men he faced before Rafael Lantigua singled to right, and then Kemp followed with a single to left but Darren Baker gunned down Lantigua at third with House putting down the tag to end the third inning.
He went on throw just 67 pitches in six efficient innings, allowing just one run on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The run came in the fourth when Crawford tripled and scored on Henry’s sacrifice fly to center.
“Yeah, he's really good,” Millas said. “It's really a weapon to be able to use him kind of like a multi-faceted pitcher. He throws the whole kitchen sink at you, and you've got to worry about all of it. But it's all pretty good. So I was impressed with how he pounded the zone and just how poised he was throughout the whole process.”
From Manager Matt LeCroy’s office
On the performance of Ogasawara: “He pitched extremely well. He had a rough go of it in spring training and to see him come out here and do what he did with the baseball … he landed some curve balls and he got some swings and misses on the changeup, but more importantly, he was in the strike zone more than he was in spring training. And to be able to go six innings the first time out was pretty impressive. Hopefully he can build on that and get some confidence.”
On House going 2-for-5 with two RBI on hard contact: “He's got that ability. I've seen it before. Once he gets in the groove of things, I don't think he'll be here that long if he can do what I know he can do. Last year he got a little taste of Triple-A, and now it's his time. Hopefully he'll continue to get hot and go and put some pressure on people in the big leagues.”
Don’t be fooled by the sunshine
The temperature was not an April Fools’ Day joke. According to my trusty weather app, the first-pitch temperature was 38 degrees and with a breeze at 12 mph, the feels like temperature was a frosty 30.
Not surprisingly, the majority of the ballpark was empty. The announced attendance was 4,220, but the actual in-house count was probably closer to around 2,500. Those brave souls will be rewarded with a free ticket to any remaining home game in April because the Wings’ annual 50-degree guarantee was not met as the thermometer never came close to 50.
This was the second-earliest home opener in Red Wings history, topped only by 2023 when they played their first game at Innovative Field on March 31 against the Iron Pigs. That day the temperature was 47 degrees and the crowd was announced at 4,791.
In 2024, with the Iron Pigs again as the first opponent, the opener was postponed four consecutive days because of rain and the team didn’t get to play until Saturday, April 6.
“The weather was brutal and I thought it was a pretty good crowd despite the weather,.” LeCroy said. “And for us to come out and play the way we did, we did a lot of really good things on the bases, our at-bats were good and obviously we pitched well. So a lot of good things that happened and to win on Opening Day, it makes it a little bit more sweeter.”
What’s next for the Wings?
The opening homestand continues for the rest of the week against the Iron Pigs. The Wednesday and Friday games start at 6:05, while Thursday, Saturday and Sunday the first pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
On Saturday, Bruce the Bat Dog will make his first appearance of the season and Flower City Group will be donating $100 to Bruce Bettering the Community Campaign for each bat retrieved by Bruce. Proceeds from the Bruce Bettering the Community Campaign are donated to the Veterans Outreach Center and Honor Flight Rochester.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Red Wings win home opener; Here's what happened
Continue reading...
