Gomez Goes Deep Twice; Bisons Sink Bulls, 6-3
Buffalo, NY --- Mauro Gomez homered twice, including hitting a 3-run tie-breaking homer in the eighth to send Buffalo to a 6-3 win over the Durham Bulls on Saturday night.
Gomez's first homer, a two-run shot to left-center against Steve Geltz in the sixth tied the score 3-3, then he drilled a three-run blast to left against his 2012 Pawtucket teammate Will Inman to put the Bisons (38-36) ahead. The Bulls (47-29) were retired in order in the ninth as they fell for the second straight night in Buffalo.
Durham scored twice in the third and again in the sixth to build a 3-0 lead. Chris Gimenez homered in the sixth, his first of the year, to push the advantage to three runs.
In the second, the Bulls pushed across two unearned runs against starter Chad Jenkins thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Jim Negrych. Cole Figueroa doubled, followed by a Brandon Guyer bunt single. Tim Beckham hit a sharp grounder to third, Negrych threw home too high for catcher Mike Nickeas to handle, allowing Figueroa to score. Vince Belnome then grounded into a double play to bring Guyer home for a 2-0 Bulls edge.
Cory Wade, making a spot start, retired the first 11 batters of the game before being lifted following a two-out walk.
Buffalo scored three times in the sixth against Adam Liberatore and Steve Geltz, with Gomez hitting the first of his two league-leading homers against Geltz. A leap at the wall by Guyer nearly brought the home run back.
The Bulls outhit Buffalo 10-4 in the loss. Gimenez and Guyer had two hits apiece for Durham.
Gomez enters Sunday's game with 21 home runs.
Jake Odorizzi (5-1, 3.90) starts Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM ET against Todd Redmond (2-1, 7.47).