Perales no-hits Lehigh Valley for five innings in Red Wings shutout

Luis Perales gave Rochester the kind of runway that turns a clean win into a blueprint. The right-hander no-hit Lehigh Valley through five innings at ESL Ballpark, and the Red Wings finished the job with a 3-0 shutout that pushed their season-high winning streak to four straight.

Rochester scored in the first, third and sixth innings, never letting the IronPigs gather momentum after Christian Franklin opened the night with his third consecutive leadoff hit. Franklin eventually scored on a sequence that included a wild pitch and a sacrifice, then Yohandy Morales added the big swing of the early frame with the first of his two RBI. Morales finished with three hits, extending a hot stretch that has made him one of the most productive bats in the lineup.

Perales, making his seventh start and eighth appearance for Rochester, worked 78 pitches, struck out three and walked four before handing the game to the bullpen with the no-hit bid intact. Shawn Dubin, Seth Shuman and Eddy Yean finished the shutout, and Yean earned the save as Rochester kept Lehigh Valley off the board on a night when the IronPigs managed only four hits and left eight runners stranded.

That combination mattered. Rochester did not need a slugfest or a late rally to beat a .500 opponent; it won with run prevention, situational hitting and a starter who set the tone from the first inning. That is the kind of formula that travels in Triple-A, where one dominant outing can change how an organization views a pitcher’s ceiling. Perales is already on the radar as the Nationals’ No. 7 prospect, and a five-inning no-hitter only sharpened the case that he is more than a stopgap name in Rochester.

Chuck King took the loss for Lehigh Valley after allowing three runs over five innings. The game lasted 2 hours and 24 minutes, drew 3,566 fans and unfolded in 53-degree overcast weather with a 12 mph wind in from left field. Steward Berroa’s fifth-inning ejection added an odd flash to an otherwise controlled night, but Rochester never lost its grip on the game, or on the homestand that began with a win and the start of ROC the Lilac Week.