Bisons let lead slip away in 7-5 lose to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Five outs away and on the doorstep of taking the series opener against the Triple-A East Northeast division leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Bisons' bullpen produced an unusual performance in the final two innings losing a one-run lead and dropping a heartbreaker 7-5.

After the RailRiders pushed four runs across against starter Anthony Kay, the Bisons clung to a 5-4 lead with two out in the sixth. Reliever Connor Overton took over, closed out the sixth inning and took care of the first two batters in the seventh.

Following Overton, Bisons’ manager Casey Candaele elected to go with lefty Tayler Saucedo for the end of the seventh and the eighth favoring the lefty on lefty matchups with only a 5-4 lead. Saucedo appeared sharp to begin his night closing out the seventh by inducing a groundout, but was quickly lost in the eighth.

After hitting Mike Ford, allowing a double to Trey Amburgey and intentionally walking Robinson Chirinos, Saucedo left a pitch up in the zone to Derek Dietrich who knocked home a pair of runs with a bloop single to give the RailRiders their first lead of the night.

A normally untouchable bunch, the Bisons’ bullpen has allowed just 32 runs over 116.2 innings of relief work. Tuesday, the Bisons' relievers combined to allow 3 runs in 3.1 innings of work after Bryan Baker allowed a RailRider insurance run in the ninth.

Before the bullpen stumbled and following a one-hour and 45-minute rain delay, the Bisons jumped on the RailRiders and their starter, two-time MLB all-star Zack Britton, down in Triple-A on a New York Yankees' rehab assignment.

Red-hot Tyler White, eight hits in last four games, drove home a pair of runs with a double to start the game and Jared Hoying, newly acquired on a Blue Jays free-agent contract, followed with a two-run homer to right field to give the Bisons a 4-0 in the first inning and chase two-time Britton off the mound after registering only one out.

Kevin Smith tacked on another run with an opposite-field solo home run right, this time off of an Adam Warren curveball. The Bisons’ second homer of the game was Smith’s seventh home run of the season and gave the Bisons a 5-0 advantage after putting eight runners on base in the first three innings.

The southpaw Anthony Kay started for the Bisons and struggled to locate in the fourth throwing just 16 strikes on 29 pitches in the inning, walking and hitting batters that would eventually score in the inning. The RailRiders scored three runs total in the inning on a pair of RBI singles from Dietrich and Andrew Velazquez to cut into the lead and make it 5-3.

Outside of a busy fourth inning and a sixth-inning home run from Chirinos, Kay produced a solid outing and held the top run-producing team in the Triple-A East Northeast division, 5.5 runs per game, to just four runs in 5.2 innings of work. Kay finished striking out five, walking a pair and allowing just five hits before exiting with a 5-4 lead that would eventually become a no-decision.

White and Hoying led off the eighth inning with a hit and walk and were pushed into scoring position by a sacrifice bunt to give Bisons life late. However, they were quickly erased by a ground out and lineout.

The loss is the fourth straight against the RailRiders (20-9) this season for the Bisons (15-14) but the teams will meet up again Wednesday night at Trenton Thunder Ballpark for game two of the six-game series.

Righty Jacob Waguespack is expected to start for the Bisons against the RailRiders’ righty Brian Keller with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.