Manoah, Bisons blow out Red Wings, 12-0

A masterful pitching performance by Alek Manoah was complimented by explosive offense Wednesday night as the Buffalo Bisons defeated the Rochester Red Wings 12-0 in game two of the six-game series.

After striking out 12 in his first career Triple-A start the past week, the 6’6” righty went with a more efficient approach striking out just five but only giving up one hit two walks two over six innings.

Manoah looked calm in the early going, pitching to contact with a sinker and changeup and throwing just six pitches in the first inning.

He changed it up in the second inning and began punishing batters with a fastball high in the zone and a devastating slider on the inside of the plate.

“We didn’t have the best feel for the sinker in and then didn’t have the best feel for the changeup, so we just tried to do with what I had and try and locate the four-seam and keep guys off balance with the slider,” said Manoah.

Manoah also attacked the strike zone early in counts throwing first-pitch strikes against 12 of the 21 batters he faced and threw 49 strikes on 76 pitches for the game.

“I knew they were an aggressive team,” said Manoah, “But I just wanted to get ahead early in counts, get an advantage over their guys and put them away.”

Manoah held the Red Wings hitless for five innings before giving up a leadoff double in the sixth. He quickly erased the double with a ground out, a strikeout and fly out to end the inning.

For the season, Manoah has now pitched twelve innings, struck out 17, walked two and given up just three hits and no runs in two victorious starts.

“When a guy goes up there consistently and throws up zeros it makes it pretty easy to manage,” said Bisons’ manager Casey Candaele.

Backing Manoah was an offensive output the Bisons had been waiting for.

After hitting 8-57 with runners in scoring position in their last four games the Bisons' offense flipped the script. The Bisons had five hits with runners in scoring position and scored 12 runs on 15 hits.

“I think the ability to just let games go and come back and see the next game as a new one and a new challenge, I think that is kind of what these guys are about, so it is pretty cool,” said Candaele.

Logan Warmoth got the scoring started with a two-run home run blast to straightaway center field with Christian Colon on base.

But the Bisons did not stand pat with the lead in the second like the night before, where they scored zero runs over the final eight innings after taking a 3-0 lead.

Juan Graterol hit a two-run double down the right-field line and Tyler White drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Bisons a 5-0 lead after three.

Just for good measure, the Bisons exploded in the sixth inning scoring a 6-runs. Breyvic Valera cleared the bases with a two-run triple in the sixth inning to give the Bisons a 7-0 lead.

The Bison quickly loaded the bases behind Valera’s triple and Colon cleared the bags with a no-doubt grand slam home run over the left-field wall, his second long-ball of the year, to make the score 11-0.

Eight Bisons reached base including multi-hit games by six and three-hit games from Logan Warmoth and Colon.

In addition, White doubled in the third to extend his hit streak to six games. The double, his fifth of the year, tied him for the Triple-A East division lead.

The Red Wings starter Ben Braymer countered Manoah and had the opposite type of start lasting just 2.2 innings and giving up five runs. He struggled to locate his fastball throwing just 35 strikes on 70 pitches.

The Bisons' bullpen kept the party going to finish the game as James Dykstra, making his first appearance of the year, Jackson McClelland and Bryan Baker held the Red Wings to two hits over the final three innings.

The Bisons, 5-3 after the win, are expected to start T.J. Zeuch against the Red Wings’ Rogelio Armenteros in game 3 of the series. The first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.