Bisons 4-3 Win is Heaven Sent
In his first game with the team, Pagan lined a two-out, two-run walk-off triple in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Herd a 4-3 heart-stopping victory over the Braves in Gwinnett's first ever trip to Buffalo.
Pagan began his major league rehab assignment with the Bisons on Tuesday, a night after Jesus Feliciano hit a two-run walk off home run in a 5-3 victory over Norfolk. On Tuesday night, Pagan played the roll of the hero as his hit capped an improbably game-winning rally.
Four batters before Pagan came to the plate in the 11th, the Bisons trailed 3-1 with two outs and no one on base. Robinson Cancel kept hope alive with a walk and Argenis Reyes got himself on base with a sharp single to left on an 0-2 pitch. A fielding error on a chopper from pinch hitter Jason Cooper made the score 3-2 and put the game-winning run on base.
That's when Pagan came through in the clutch. A rocket liner up the middle raced just past the diving glove of centerfielder Gregor Blanco. Reyes scored easily from third and Cooper raced around the bases for the game-winning run.
In the ninth inning, Pagan also kept the scored tied at one when he threw out J.C. Holt trying to score on a single from Barbaro Canizares. The Braves were able to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the 11th when Canizares' single to left evaded the glove of Fernando Martinez.
Prior to that, both teams were held off the scoreboard for the first five frames, thanks to the work of Buffalo's Dillon Gee and Gwinnett's Tony Armas Jr. Gee flirted with the notion of history, setting down the first 14 batters he faced. A two-out walk to Braves' third baseman Van Pope in the fifth inning broke up the perfect game.
In the sixth inning, right fielder Reid Gorecki broke up the no-no with a lead off single. Four batters later, Brandon Jones drove in Gorecki for the game's first run.
That was the only damage Gee allowed in a seven-inning no-decision. All three singles he gave up came in the sixth. The righty matched a season-high with seven strikeouts.
Gwinnett's Armas Jr. threw five shutout innings. Buffalo tied the score with a run in the seventh inning thanks to a pinch-hit RBI-single from Wily Mo Pena.
BISONS NOTES: Bisons starter have now combined to post a 2.16ERA over the Herd's last 13 games...OF Angel Pagan is on rehab assignment after having a bone spur removed from his right elbow in March.