Notebook: Bisons, Waguespack coming off big series vs. Rochester

Dominant. That could be one word to describe the Bisons’ performances against the Red Wings this season.

After winning five of the six games between the two teams at Frontier Field this past week, the Herd improved to 10-2 this year against their Thruway Cup rival, outscoring the Red Wings 71-26 on the season.

The club set the tone for the series when it began on Tuesday night, and starting pitcher Jacob Waguespack was a huge part of that. Waguespack provided a quality start against Scranton Wilkes-Barre just a week before, and continued that momentum into the series opener, pitching 5.2 innings and allowing just one run to the Red Wings. The big right-hander also struck out five batters during his time on the mound, compared to giving up one walk.

The Bisons generated offense behind Waguespack’s quality start, beating up their rival in a 14-1 win to open the series. However, that wasn’t the last time the Red Wings would see Waguespack on the mound. The big right-hander pitched again on Sunday afternoon to close out the series and the result was similar. Waguespack pitched five innings, allowing no runs on four hits, and struck out six batters. The Herd provided offense yet again behind Waguespack’s start and the club continued the trend against their rival, beating the Red Wings 7-1.

Waguespack, who came into the month of June with a 4.67 earned run average, has allowed just two runs over his past 15.2 innings on the mound. The right-hander has been playing his best baseball in June, producing a 2.75 earned run average throughout the month so far.

The good news for Waguespack and all of the Herd’s pitchers for that matter, is that even if they have a poor start, the club’s batting order has been on fire as of late. Although a few players shined more than others, the club impressed at the plate as a whole, scoring 39 runs in the six games against their rival.

Two of the Herd’s biggest contributors at the plate have been Kevin Smith and Richard Urena. Smith, who is currently 6th in Triple-A baseball for OPS, put on a clinic against the Red Wings, batting 8-for-23 at the plate, good for a .347 average. The young prospect also batted in ten runs in the series and had four extra-base hits. Smith is now batting .355 in the month of June, which is a great improvement for the prospect who batted .225 in May.

Urena was just as impressive at the plate against Rochester, also going 8-for-23 for a .347 batting average. The switch-hitting veteran was clutch at the plate, batting in nine runs himself throughout the series. Perhaps Urena’s best performance came on Saturday night he went 3-for-5, batting in three of the club’s eight runs in their 8-6 victory. Urena is now batting .294 on the season and will look to bring that momentum into the team’s next series.

The Bisons have left Rochester and will now travel east down the I-90 to take on the Syracuse Mets. The Mets, who are at the bottom of the division standings, have not played their best baseball over the past two weeks.

After the Mets visited the Herd in Trenton, the club traveled home to take on the Worcester Red Sox. This series was far from ideal for the Mets as they went 0-6 against the WooSox, getting outscored 57-23. Syracuse then traveled to Scranton Wilkes-Barre to take on the RailRiders and the team was left with the same result. The Mets went winless, losing all five games of the series, and were outscored 37-23 by the division-leading RailRiders.

Despite the recent woes for the Mets, the Herd knows what the team from Syracuse is capable of. The two teams met in Trenton just a few weeks back and split the series, three games apiece. And although the Mets are winless in their last eleven games, the numbers can be a bit deceiving. The club has been in many of these games, losing by three runs or less in five of them.

The Bisons (22-18) will look to keep their momentum going against the Mets (11-30) when the series starts on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 6:35 pm. TJ Zeuch is expected to start on the mound for the Herd.