Bisons rally falls short in 7-6 defeat
A big-time Bisons' comeback wasn't meant to be Friday night at Coca-Cola Field as a crowd of 15,864 saw the Herd fall to Pawtucket, 7-6. Buffalo trailed 6-1 and 7-2 before rallying for four runs in the eighth inning, only to leave the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
With the deficit at five runs and only six outs to work with, the Bisons pushed across four runs in the eighth inning by batting around the order. Following Alex Hassan's double and Andy Burns' single, Ty Kelly lined a pitch into left field to bring home a run. George Kottaras followed with a fourth straight hit, beating the shifted Pawtucket infield with a grounder through the left side.
Down 7-4, the Bisons kept coming even as the Red Sox went to a second reliever, Noe Ramirez. Chris Heisey's free pass loaded the bases before Caleb Gindl went to the opposite field to score Kelly to close to within 7-5. Dalton Pompey then smashed a deep drive to right field that was just hauled in by Jonathan Roof. The sac fly made it 7-6, but with a second out recorded, Ramirez was able to get out of the jam with a groundout from the next batter, Munenori Kawasaki.
Pawtucket used some big hits to build their six-run cushion. Chris Marrero homered in the second inning while Mike Miller went into the screen in left field for his third home run of the year in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles from Marco Hernandez and Roof helped the PawSox score two more in the sixth while the third Bisons' fielding error helped the all-important seventh run to score in the top of the eighth inning.
The loss for Buffalo went to Andrew Albers, dropping the southpaw's record to 2-10 on the season. Albers showed the rust that could be expected from a pitcher who had thrown just two innings in August due to a lengthy stint on the disabled list. He allowed three runs on seven hits before being pulled in the third inning.
Next up for the Bisons is a three-game series against the RailRiders starting Saturday night (7:05 p.m.) at Coca-Cola Field.
BISONS NOTES:
Donn Roach made his Bisons debut, allowing three runs (two earned) in four innings of relief. Roach was claimed off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday and activated just prior to Friday's game…Alex Hassan finished the game 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to opening the game's scoring…Dalton Pompey reached base three times with two hits and a walk to go along with a run scored.