Diamond sparkles in 4-1 win over Toledo
Scott Diamond was both effective and efficient for the Herd as he lowered his ERA to 2.39 Monday night.
The 29-year-old needed only 53 pitches to get through five frames, en route to 7.1 innings of one-run ball as Buffalo came away with a 4-1 win over Toledo at Coca-Cola Field.
Diamond's toughest situation came with the bases loaded in the sixth yet he escaped the jam unscathed with a ground ball double-play -- his main mode for sitting down the Mud Hens' order. With the Canuck on the bump, 17 of 22 outs came along the turf.
"I felt like me and A.J. [Jimenez] were working really well on the outside half," said Diamond.
"We only seemed to go in to establish. It seemed like a lot of their hitters were anticipating us going in, so when we did go away they were just rolling over and we got a lot of ground balls out of it."
The lefty punched out a pair without allowing a walk to even his record at 3-3.
"He's been outstanding since the season started," said manager Gary Allenson.
"He makes his pitches, keeps it down, he has quick innings…which is really nice."
Jesus Montero got Buffalo on the board in the first inning with a towering two-run blast to left field. Thanks to a cool, brisk wind blowing towards the foul pole in left, outfielder Wynton Bernard could only watch from the warning track as the sky-high ball drifted over his head and beyond the wall.
Montero added to his team-leading hit total (now at 41) with a double in the sixth and a single in the eighth.
Two batters after Montero's final hit, Darrell Ceciliani cashed in the slugger with a line-drive single into center.
The Bisons only other run come on a trio of singles in the seventh. Jimenez reached base and moved to second on Jio Mier's lone hit of the night, then trotted home as Dalton Pompey's grounder made its way onto the left-field grass.
David Aardsma didn't give up a hit but ran into some trouble in the ninth. However, Buffalo's closer still managed to work his way around two walks and a hit batter for the save.
Former Bison, Daniel Norris, threw a season-high seven frames for the Mud Hens. The left-hander gave up eight hits, struck out four batters, and surrendered three runs.
BISONS NOTES:
Dalton Pompey's single in the seventh extends his hit streak to eight games…Jesus Montero's two-RBI performance moves him ahead of Domonic Brown for the team lead at 19…Scott Diamond became just the first Bisons pitcher to throw more than seven innings in 2016…As a team, Buffalo now leads the International League with 13 saves...Dustin Antolin made his major-league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night, allowing four hits and three runs in 2.0 innings of relief against the Tampa Bay Rays.