Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Bisons erupted for a four-run rally, culminating in Sócrates Brito's two-run single to right field with the bases loaded, for the 5-3 comeback victory against the Charlotte Knights on '716 Day' at Sahlen Field.His 44th and 45th RBI this year,
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Bisons erupted for a four-run rally, culminating in Sócrates Brito's two-run single to right field with the bases loaded, for the 5-3 comeback victory against the Charlotte Knights on '716 Day' at Sahlen Field.
His 44th and 45th RBI this year, Brito's two-out contribution in his final at-bat of the night against Knights starter Donny Roach allowed both Jordan Patterson and Andy Burns to score for the go-ahead hit. Brito and the fans were fired up as his hit helped the Herd reach the 50-win plateau in now their 12th comeback victory of the season.
But up until this sixth inning, Roach was rolling for the Knights as the Herd had just an unearned run on the board and trailed 3-1. But a two-out single from Reese McGuire got the Herd going and the team didn't look back, sending nine men to the plate in the rally.
On the next pitch after McGuire's hit, Richard Ureña brought the backstop home on a RBI triple sent deep into the right-field gap, cutting Charlotte's deficit to 3-2. Urena then tied the game at three after Jordan Patterson's sharp grounder ricocheted off Knights' first baseman Daniel Palka's glove. By the end of the aftermath of Brito's timely hit, Roach allowed five runs - only one of them was earned.
Meanwhile, on the mound, after making a couple of tweaks, Ryan Borucki had a strong outing in his start for the Herd. After a Luis Robert lead-off triple, the southpaw yielded a two-run home run from Alcides Escobar to give the Knights a 2-0 lead, Borucki readjusted and showed why he is getting closer to recovering from his sore elbow injury and returning to Toronto.
In six innings of work, the 25-year-old lefty struck out a new season-high six batters on 83 pitches (56 strikes). He also only allowed two more hits after the first inning - one of them being Robert's solo home run in the fifth - and walked a batter. Following Daniel Palka's single in the first, Borucki retired the next 10 batters until Yermin Mercedes' double in the fourth.
Crediting Charlotte as a good team with some good hitters, Borucki said he just stuck to his game-plan the rest of the night after the challenging start.
"After the two-run homer and those couple hits, I really got into my delivery and just made a lot of good pitches after that," he said. "I kept them off-balance, except for that one home run where I hung out a little bit on my changeup and he made a good swing on it. Other than that, I feel pretty good about it today."
After Borucki's day was done, Bryan Baker and Ty Tice (second save of season) completed the game. Baker threw the seventh and eighth innings, only allowing a hit and striking out two batters. Tice then retired the side in the ninth.
BISON NOTES: Another contributor at the plate tonight was Dalton Pompey. After recording an RBI in last night's loss to Charlotte, Pompey continued his MLB Rehab assignmetn with a three-hit night at the plate. This was his first multi-game with Bisons since August 28, 2018 at Rochester when he finished 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and a double… Rowdy Tellez recorded a base-hit in the first inning in his second game back with Buffalo… For '716 Day', fans went home with Beef on Weck Bobbleheads in honor of Charlie the Butcher… The Herd continue their series with the Knights Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. as part of the "Buffalo Wings Baseball" series. T.J. Zeuch looks for his third win of the season as a Bison against Charlotte's Justin Nicolino..
