Johnson drives in four as Chiefs clip Bisons

The Syracuse Chiefs won, 6-5, on Monday night against the Buffalo Bisons in the first game of a four-game set at NBT Bank Stadium. The Bisons erased a five-run deficit, but Josh Johnson drove in four of the six Chiefs runs to give Syracuse its second victory in a row. 

Syracuse (41-63) scored first in the bottom of the second against Buffalo starter Daniel Norris. Kevin Keyes singled and Matt Skole walked to start the frame. After Norris got the next two outs, Dan Butler walked to load the bases. Then, Johnson lined a double off the glove of center fielder Melky Mesa to clear the bases and give the Chiefs an early 3-0 lead. 

The Chiefs plated two more runs in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Keyes and Skole walked. Mario Lisson rolled a grounder in between first and second to score Keyes from second. Skole and Lisson advanced to second and third respectively on the throw to the plate. The next batter, Tony Gwynn, Jr., reached base on an error on a ground ball by second baseman Jonathon Berti, which allowed Skole to score to give Syracuse a 5-0 advantage. 

Buffalo (53-50) began to crawl back in the top of the sixth inning against Syracuse starter Richard Bleier. With one out, Alex Hassan singled to center field. Then, Andy Burns doubled to deep center field to plate Hassan to cut the deficit to four. Two batters later, Melky Mesa scored Burns with an RBI single to right field. Mesa advanced to second on a throwing error by Gwynn. Josh Thole followed with an RBI single to center to make the score 5-3 Syracuse.

The Bisons scratched across another run in the top of the seventh inning against Scott McGregor. Dalton Pompey led off the frame with a walk. McGregor retired the next two Buffalo hitters. With two outs, Hassan continued the inning with a single to center field. With runners on first and second, Burns drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single to center to cut the Chiefs' lead to one.

Buffalo tied the score in the top of the eighth inning against Sam Runion. Mesa led off the inning with a triple to deep center field. Two batters later, Jonathan Diaz squared the score with an RBI groundout to Johnson at second.

Johnson came through in the clutch again in the bottom of the eighth to give the lead back to Syracuse against Miguel Castro. Gwynn singled to start the frame. With Gwynn attempting to steal second, Butler lined a single to right field to put runners on the corners with no outs. Johnson drove in his fourth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Chiefs a 6-5 lead heading into the final inning.

Rafael Martin closed the door on the Bisons in the top of the ninth. The right-hander struck out the side against Buffalo to seal the Syracuse victory. Martin has now struck out 51 batters in 42 innings this season.   

Syracuse and Buffalo face off in game two of a four-game series Tuesday night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Chiefs will start Taylor Hill against left-hander Jeff Francis for the Bisons. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.