Bisons outslug Red Wings 5-3 in Thruway Series opener, Pinango and Hassell homer

Yohendrick Pinango and Robert Hassell III gave the first Thruway Series meeting of 2026 an immediate jolt, but Buffalo kept landing the decisive blows and beat Rochester 5-3 in the opener of a six-game set at ESL Ballpark between two clubs that entered at 8-8.

Pinango opened the scoring in the first inning when Josh Kasevich walked and then came around on Pinango’s drive into the right-field bullpen. The blast was Pinango’s third home run of the season and put Buffalo in front 2-0 before Rochester had fully settled into the night. Hassell answered right back in the bottom of the frame, leading off with a 428-foot homer to right-center for his first long ball of the season and the 50th home run of his professional career across the majors and minors. The swing from the 24-year-old former first-round pick gave Rochester instant life and briefly turned the opener into a showcase for two of the series’ most recognizable young bats.

The game tightened from there, and Rochester had a strong answer on the mound in Andrew Alvarez. The left-hander struck out nine over 5.1 innings, continuing a blistering April that now has him at 25 strikeouts, the most in professional baseball this month. Alvarez had already earned International League Pitcher of the Week honors after striking out 10 over five shutout innings against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 2, a stretch that has marked him as one of the most dominant arms in the circuit and one of only four Rochester pitchers since at least 2004 to reach 10 strikeouts in 5.0 innings or fewer.

Buffalo regained the edge on Riley Tirotta’s solo homer in the sixth, then added another insurance shot in the eighth when RJ Schreck hit his first home run of the season. Tirotta, a 27-year-old third baseman drafted by Toronto in the 12th round in 2021, delivered the kind of timely extra-base damage that has become a calling card for the Bisons’ offense. Rochester kept swinging, and a bloop hit from Andres Chaparro, a single from Yohandy Morales and a two-run double by Trey Lipscomb tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth. Lipscomb also finished with a multi-hit night, and Hassell’s homer gave the Red Wings an early lift, but the lineup could not finish the rally after Buffalo answered again and closed out the opener.

For Rochester, the night underlined both promise and pressure. The Red Wings have top-of-order production from Hassell and Lipscomb, and Alvarez is giving them a starter capable of carrying a rotation on his own. Buffalo, meanwhile, showed the kind of patient, power-backed response that can swing a rivalry series before it gets out of April.