BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Gwinnett Stripers (22-16) opened a six-game road trip with their fourth-straight win, an 11-3 rout of the Buffalo Bisons (14-20) Tuesday night in game one of the three-game series at Sahlen Field. Austin Riley blasted his International League-leading 15th home run - a seventh-inning grand slam
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Gwinnett Stripers (22-16) opened a six-game road trip with their fourth-straight win, an 11-3 rout of the Buffalo Bisons (14-20) Tuesday night in game one of the three-game series at Sahlen Field. Austin Riley blasted his International League-leading 15th home run - a seventh-inning grand slam - to power the win.
Scoring Recap: Buffalo took a 2-0 lead against Gwinnett starter Kyle Wright in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Andy Burns and a first-and-third double steal by Burns and Roemon Fields. In the top of the sixth, an RBI double by Andrés Blanco cut the Bisons' lead in half and an RBI ground out by Pedro Florimón tied the game at 2-2. In the top of the seventh, the Stripers sent 13 men to the plate and scored nine times to run out to an 11-2 lead. The inning was highlighted by a grand slam from Riley (15) and RBI singles from Florimon and Luis Marté. Buffalo cut it to 11-3 in the bottom of the eighth as Gwinnett reliever Thomas Burrows hit Richard Ureña with a pitch with the bases loaded.
Stripers Stats: Riley's grand slam was his only hit in four at-bats. Marte was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Florimon went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. On the mound, Wright (W, 3-2) picked up his second straight Triple-A win by going 6.0 innings with three hits, two runs, two walks, and six strikeouts. Burrows gave up a run in 1.2 innings of work, and A.J. Minter, pitching for Gwinnett for the first time since 2017, worked the final 1.1 innings with one hit, no runs, and two strikeouts.
Bisons Stats: At the plate, Reese McGuire was 2-for-4 with a run. On the mound, Andrew Sopko, making his first Triple-A start, went 5.2 innings with three hits, two unearned runs and four strikeouts. Jordan Romano (L, 1-2) suffered the loss with six runs (five earned), three hits, and two walks in only one third of an inning.
Postgame Notes: Riley leads the IL in both homers and RBIs (39). The grand slam was his 13th home run in his last 18 games and his 10th in May, tying the Gwinnett record for most homers in one month. Adam Duvall went 0-for-5 to snap his 20-game on-base streak. Florimon extended his hitting streak to 10 games and Travis Demeritte extended his on-base streak to 17 games. The nine-run seventh marked Gwinnett's most runs in an inning this season.
Next Game (Wednesday, May 15): Gwinnett at Buffalo, 6:05 p.m. Eastern. RHP Touki Toussaint (1-1, 7.11 ERA) for the Stripers vs. RHP Jacob Waguespack (2-4, 5.60 ERA) for the Bisons. Radio Broadcast: 5:50 p.m. on 97.7 and 93.5 FM "The Other Side of the River."
