Guerrero Jr. Powers Bisons Past Stripers Wednesday

BUFFALO, NY - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. showed why he's rated baseball's top prospect Wednesday as he carried the Buffalo Bisons to a 6-1 win over the Gwinnett Stripers at Coca-Cola Field.
Guerrero, rated No. 1 overall by MLB.com, went 3-for-3 against No. 24-ranked Kyle Wright in a battle of highly-touted prospects. One of the three hits included Guerrero's first career Triple-A home run, which gave the Bisons a lead in the fifth inning that they wouldn't relinquish. 

After being shut out Tuesday, the Bisons quickly got on the board in the bottom of the first Wednesday. With two outs, Guerrero pounded a double to left off the right-hander Wright and scored on a single to center by Danny Jansen for a 1-0 lead. Wright had began his Triple-A career with 6.1 hitless innings before Guerrero's double.
Gwinnett tied the game in the top of the fifth as Phil Gosselin led off with a double to left off Buffalo starter Jacob Waguespack. With two outs, Luis Marté hit a ground ball toward Guerrero at third, who misplayed the ball. It was ruled a hit and an error, allowing Gosselin to score from second.
The Bisons committed five errors in the game, but the Stripers were only able to push the one run across.
Buffalo took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, as Guerrero blasted a two-run shot to center off Wright to make it 3-1. Wright allowed another two-run long ball to Reese McGuire (6) in the sixth for a 5-1 Bisons lead.
Wright (L, 1-1) allowed seven hits, five runs (four earned) and a walk with six strikeouts over 6.0 innings. Philip Pfeifer tossed 2.0 innings with one hit, one earned run, two walks and one strikeout.
Waguespack (W, 4-6) pitched 5.1 innings with four hits, one unearned run, one walk and six strikeouts. Jose Fernandez tossed 1.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Tim Mayza worked 2.0 innings with two hits and three strikeouts.
At the plate, Dustin Peterson was 2-for-4 to extend his on-base streak to 23 games. Xavier Avery was 1-for-3 with a walk in his return from the disabled list.
For Buffalo, Guerrero finished 3-for-4 with two runs, a double and a two-run homer. He is now 6-for-10 in the series. McGuire was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
The rubber match of the three-game series in Buffalo is set for Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. The Stripers (53-59) will run 20-year-old righty Bryse Wilson (1-0, 10.13) against Bisons (51-61) southpaw Matt Tracy (0-1, 2.41). Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 and 93.5 FM "The Other Side of the River" beginning at 6:35 p.m.