Herd struggles in 8-1 loss to PawSox
The Bisons had a runner at third base with one out in the top of the first inning, but failed to score a run.
That about summed up the night for the Herd, as the offense struggled to string anything together in an 8-1 loss to Pawtucket Sunday night at Coca-Cola Field.
The Bisons are now 1.5 games behind Pawtucket in the wild card race and 5-5 against the Red Sox on the season with two more games at home remaining in this series.
"At this point in the season we have to make sure we take care of the ball, make sure the routine play is made," said Bisons manager Marty Brown after the game.
"It comes down to what they're made of each day as far as getting prepared, understanding what we need to accomplish on that given day to win and what they bring to the table to help us win. It's not about hits or home runs. We have to take care of the baseball. We have to get leadoff men on base and make things happen. If you don't do that, you're not a winner," he said.
Center fielder Anthony Gose scored the Herd's only run of the night in the eighth inning after left fielder Kevin Pillar hit a sharp grounder to third. Gose scored on a poor throw to first after reaching base with a double to right field.
Gose led off the game with a single to center and now has a hit in nine of his last 11 games. He had two of Buffalo's six hits on the night.
Herd starter Justin Germano retired seven straight hitters between the second and fourth innings before giving up an infield single to Ronald Bermudez in the fifth.
After that, the inning started to unravel for the right-hander, who leads the Herd in strikeouts, innings pitched and quality starts.
Tony Thomas then hit a flare down the right field line that appeared to be foul on the replay, but was called fair to put runners on second and third with Jeremy Hazelbaker at the plate for Pawtucket.
Hazelbaker hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Luis Jimenez and beat Jimenez' flip to Germano at first, which allowed Bermudez to score from third and give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Leadoff hitter Jonathan Diaz gave Pawtucket a 3-0 lead with a single to right field, scoring Thomas. PawSox shortstop Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI single into left field that scored Hazelbaker.
Dan Butler hit another ground ball single into left field to score the fourth run of the inning for Pawtucket, giving them a 5-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Germano did have two strikeouts in the inning, although he threw 32 pitches and gave up five straight hits.
"He pitched really good today," Brown said of his starting pitcher. "We played very lackluster on defense. For him to come out of the game with five runs and us have no errors, we just didn't do the little things we needed to do defensively. We weren't in the game as much as we should have been for him, because I think he threw some good pitches."
The Pasadena, Calif. native dropped to 7-8 on the season after giving up nine hits and five earned runs in his 21st start on the year. He struck out four Sox hitters while walking just one.
Reliever Bobby Korecky came into the game in the sixth and retired the Pawtucket batters in order, including two strikeouts.
Korecky gave up a double and a single in the seventh as the Red Sox increased the lead by six going into the seventh inning stretch.
The right-hander gave up one earned and two hits in two innings pitched.
Pawtucket scored two late runs in the top of the ninth on a normal fly ball to center field that Gose lost under the lights allowing both Sox base runners to score to increase the lead to 8-1 for the IL North leaders.
"We need to go out there and pick ourselves up and get the little things done, which we haven't been doing," Brown said. "So, guys have to understand their approach has to be much more sound. They've got to have a lot better plan in those situations."
Bisons Notes: Buffalo is now 28-22 against IL North opponents on the season…Relievers Joel Correno and Jeremy Jeffress each pitched one inning in the game…Catcher Mike Nickeas got the night off after hitting a walk-off home run Saturday against Pawtucket…INF Mauro Gomez will be put on the disabled list for the foreseeable future after straining his left oblique in the sixth inning Saturday night…17 of the Herd's final 30 games are at home…the highest total of any team in the division…Luis Jimenez won the annual Home Run Derby after the game…He hit four home runs in the final round (15 total) to beat Andy LaRoche…LaRoche hit one homer in the final round (10 total)…Ricardo Nanita also participated.