Kay dominates Red Wings in 7-4 win

Wednesday night, the Bisons got yet another dominant pitching performance by their starting pitcher… and it led to a very important victory.
After T.J. Zeuch no-hit Rochester on Monday and Nate Pearson tossed seven shutout innings in his Triple-A debut, southpaw Anthony Kay kept the train moving with six shutout innings of his own en route to the Bisons 7-4 victory against the Red Wings at Frontier Field.
Following Kay's shutout outing, the trio of Kay, Pearson and Zeuch have tossed 22.0 scoreless innings allowing six hits, four walks while fanning 12 batters. Dating back to Conor Fisk's start on Sunday against Durham, the Bisons starting staff have not allowed a run in the last 25.2 innings, while allowing just eight hits, four walks and striking out 15.
Kay began Wednesday's game by issuing a leadoff walk to Drew Maggi before going on the retire 10 of the next 13 batters. 
The lefty's only hiccup came in the fourth inning when Brandon Barnes connected on a two-out double before a Zander Wiel walk. The pair then stole second and third, respectively, but Kay was also getting Wynston Sawyer to strike out looking to escape any potential issues. 
Kay, who finished the night by allowing just three hits and three free-passes, also fanned six batters in his first win in a Bison uniform. The six strikeouts in the contest was Kay's fourth consecutive start with at least that many punchouts, giving him a total of 28 in the 22.0 innings.
This was also his first Triple-A start between the Syracuse Mets and the Bisons where he has not allowed a single run (12 total starts).
Buffalo helped their starter out by taking an early lead in the second inning when Patrick Kivlehan hit a solo shot, his team-best 27th of the season.
Buffalo extended their lead to 4-0 in the fifth.Kevin Vicuna, who was just promoted from Single-A Dunedin earlier today, tripled down the right-field line to open the frame for the Herd. The 'three bagger' was also Vicuna's first career Triple-A hit.
It was then a trio of one-out singles off the bats of Forrest Wall, Andy Burns and Sócrates Brito to help plate the first two runs of the fifth. Kivlehan then capped off the inning with an RBI groundout to put the Bisons up four.

After yielding three runs in the bottom of the eighth, Buffalo answered in the ninth with three of their own with the help of a little small-ball along the way. Roemon Fields opened with a single before swiping second. Vicuna followed with a bunt single and stole second himself to put runners in scoring position for Jonathan Davis. 
Davis answered the call with a base knock to plate Fields for the fifth run of the game for Buffalo. Customary to the inning, Davis stole the Herd's third bag of the inning, once again putting a pair in scoring position with no one out. Preston Guilmet allowed Vicuna to score on a wild pitch before Davis plated the seventh run of the game for Buffalo off a Burns sacrifice fly.
Buffalo looks to take the series and continue to stay in the hunt for the IL North as they are scheduled to send RHP Brock Stewart to the mound for the series finale in Rochester with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Following the finale up the 90, the Herd returns home for the final homestand of the season against the Red Wings and Pawtucket. It's a promotion-packed week that begins with the final Honda fridaynightbash! At 7:05 p.m. and Happy Hour beginning at 5:00 p.m.
BISONS NOTES: While Buffalo came out victorious on Wednesday, Syracuse and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre did as well...The Bisons sit third in the IL North, two games behind the RailRiders while the Mets are just a game behind.