Bisons Rebound, Rally for 7-6 Win

Jason Pridie's two-out, two-run single capped a furious late-inning comeback as the Herd defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, 7-6, Friday night at PNC Field.

The Yanks shut out the Bisons in the first game of the season on Thursday night, 1-0. Twenty-four hours later, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre held the Herd to just two hits over the first five innings in building a 6-2 lead.

But Buffalo's high-powered offense came through against the Yankee bullpen. Chris Carter cut the four-run deficit in half in the sixth inning when he tripled home Fernando Martinez and Mike Hessman. An inning later, the lead was down to one when reliever Royce Ring uncorked a wild pitch with Luis Hernandez on third base.

The Bisons then capped the rally with two more runs in the eighth. Carter led off the inning with a walk and Mike Cervenak got himself a board with one of his two hits on the night. Two batters later, Pridie pulled a pitch through the right side of the infield to plate both the game-tying and go-ahead runs.

Where the Yankee bullpen was ineffective, the Bisons' pen shined. Four Herd relievers combined for 4.1 shutout innings of work with Kiko Calero (1-0) picking up the win. The solid work started with Adam Pettyjohn, who got the Bisons out of a jam in the fifth before posting a scoreless sixth inning. Calero worked the seventh and two more outs in the eighth.

Working on consecutive nights, Raul Valdes struck out the dangerous Juan Miranda to close out the eighth inning. Last season's saves leader for Buffalo, Elmer Dessens retired Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the ninth for his first save of the season.

Buffalo scored their first two runs with only two hits. Ike Davis continued his torrid start with a long home run to centerfield on the first pitch of the fourth. Two innings prior, walks by Davis and Hessman set up Cervenak's RBI-single.

BISONS NOTES: A night after striking out 11 without drawing a walk, Bisons hitters combined for seven walks and only six punchouts...Ike Davis has reached base in six of his first nine Triple-A plate appearances. Davis is 4-7 with two doubles, a home run and two walks this season...Pride collected the Bisons first stolen base of the season. He had 50 steals over the past two seasons with Rochester.