Bisons fall to Mets 3-2 despite strong start from Fleming

Syracuse struck for three runs in the top half of the eighth to pull out a 3-2 victory over the Herd on Sunday afternoon at Sahlen Field. Despite the loss, the Bisons earned the 4-2 series win over their Thruway Series rival this week in downtown Buffalo.

The Bisons had a 1-0 lead for most of Sunday’s affair until Nick Morabito hit a two-run home run in the eighth and Christian Pache added what turned out to be an important a two-out RBI-triple for insurance.

Morabito’s home run snapped a 15-inning scoreless streak by Herd pitchers and was just the eighth home run allowed by Buffalo all season. It also took a potential first Bisons win away from southpaw Josh Fleming, who was brilliant over five scoreless innings on Sunday.

Fleming faced just three over the minimum and struck out four without issuing a free pass. He yielded just four singles, two of which never left the infield, and allowed just one base runner to advance beyond first base. He threw 72% of his pitches (44 of 61) for strikeouts.

Brendan Little and Yariel Rodriguez were impressive in relief as well, each throwing a shutout inning. Little fanned three batters while Rodriguez punched out two in a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

The first Bisons run of the game came off the bat of Charles McAdoo, who clubbed his first career Triple-A home run into the bullpen in right-centerfield in the fourth inning.

McAdoo added a double and a single and finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate. The Triple-A rookie is now hitting .325 in his first 12 games with the Bisons.

McAdoo (and the Bisons) thought he had scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Down 3-1 entering the frame, Josh Rivera drove home R.J. Schreck with a groundout that also advanced McAdoo to third base. Syracuse reliver Ofreidy Garcia then threw the next pitch behind the head of William Simoneit and McAdoo raced home to slide over the plate.

But following the play, the umpires ruled the ball hit Simoneit’s bat and not off the glove of catcher Onix Vega. McAdoo was forced to return to third base and two pitches later, Garcia struck out Simoneit to end the game.

Buffalo will follow up their Monday off-day with a six-game series in Rochester against the Red Wings. The Bisons return home for their next homestand on April 21 to host the Columbus Clippers.