Bisons homer seven times in 14-1 win

It was bombs away in Rochester as Kevin Smith and Richard Urena led a seven-homerun, 18-hit offensive landslide in a 14-1 blowout win over the Red Wings, Tuesday night from Frontier Field.

The seven home runs tied the Bisons modern-era record for homers in a game accomplished only twice before, the last being a 16-2 win over Syracuse on July 2, 2004.

Urena began the rout by bringing Jared Hoying and Cullen Large home with a three-run blast to straight-away center field in the second inning.

Then Smith got after the Red Wings’ starter Tyler Eppler again in the third inning, launching his team-leading eighth home run of the year over the left-field wall and into Bisons’ bullpen.

Large then went deep in the fourth, making big contact and stroking his second home-run of the season and his eighth hit in his last five games, this time into the Red Wings’ bullpen in right field.

Already with a 5-1 lead heading into the fifth, the Bisons' boom sticks hit full power striking for three homers and sending all nine batters to the plate in the inning.

Smith launched his second home-run of the game, this time a two-run blast to right field, for his ninth of the year. Hoying decided to throw his bat in the ring unleashing a right field home-run for his second of the year. Finally, Urena capped off Eppler’s night with his second home run of the game to right field to inflate the lead to 10-1.

After a scoreless sixth and an RBI groundout by Juan Graterol in the seventh, the bats heated up again rattling off four straight hits in the eighth to score a pair of singles from Smith and White. That made the score 13-1.

The Red Wings turned to their first baseman Brandon Snyder in the ninth with hopes of cooling the Bisons’ sizzling hot lineup. Nevertheless, he earned the same fate as the pitching staff, surrendering the Bisons’ seventh and final home run of the game to Logan Warmoth, his fourth of the year.

The Bisons’ offense finished the game with 18 hits, ten extra-base hits and five hits with runners in scoring position for the Bisons largest run total of the season. The eruption also comes a game after being shut out in the series finale with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 8-0 and after the Toronto Blue Jays hit eight home runs Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.

The Bisons’ offense showed off for three-time all-star and World Series MVP George Springer, down on a Major League injury rehab assignment with a right quad strain. Springer played center field and hit leadoff in his first start of the season for the Bisons and put together a trio of at-bats grounding out twice and lining out once.

Despite being the recipient of an offensive outburst Jacob Waguespack’s stellar start could not be ignored. The 6’6” overhead throwing righty pitched 5.2, allowed one run on seven hits and struck out five on 93 pitches to earn his second win of the year, both of which have come against Rochester. Casey Lawrence, Dany Jimenez and Bryan Baker combined to strike out seven and allowed no runs to wrap the final 3.1 innings.

With the win, the Bisons (18-17) avoid dipping under .500 for the first time this season, improve to 4-7 on the road and have won six in a row against the Red Wings (14-23). The two teams will be back at it again for game two of the six-game series in Rochester. Righty Nate Pearson is expected to start for the Bisons opposite the Red Wings’ Rogelio Armenteros. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.