Hafner Goes 2-3 in Victory over Lehigh Valley

The Buffalo Bisons took the first game of a four-game home series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in a 5-1 victory at Dunn Tire Park on Monday night. The Herd played well all around as a team, and also got some help from Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield, who are each on rehab assignments in Buffalo.

Hafner and Barfield each did their share, helping out the Herd in the victory. Hafner was used as a designated hitter, and went 2-3 with a double and a single. Barfield played at second base, and went 0-2 with one RBI.

Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, the Herd picked its first run up to tie the game. Jason Cooper singled, and was moved over to third when Trevor Crowe reached on an error. Barfield hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Cooper and knotting the game at 1-1.

An other inning of offense is all the Bisons would need to put the game out of reach for Lehigh Valley. It was the home-half of the fourth inning with two outs, and Andy Cannizaro hit a two-run shot that left the park in a hurry. The home run brought home Chris Gimenez, giving the Herd the lead 3-1. The Herd then used back-to-back doubles from Jason Cooper and Trevor Crowe to score two more runs, capping the night off with a 5-1 lead.

With his double, Jason Cooper now stands alone in the number-two spot of the Buffalo Bisons modern era record book, with 80 doubles. Cooper, whose name is already inked all over the record book, also played in his 400th game in a Bisons uniform, tying him for the most games played in the modern era with Buffalo Baseball hall of famer Tom Prince.

Excellent pitching was also a key ingredient in the win over the IronPigs. David Huff had 8 strikeouts starting for Buffalo, his second-most wins for this season. Huff lasted five and two-thirds innings, allowing a run on five hits.

Jeff Weaver, Tom Mastny and Rich Rundles helped out with relief. Only three hits combined were allowed from the three coming out of the bullpen. Each struck out on batter.

Huff hasn't allowed more than two runs in any of his last seven starts on the mound for the Bisons. Since being promoted from Double-A Akron on June 6th, Huff is 5-4 with the Herd, with a 2.83 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 14 starts.

With two players already in the lineup from rehab assignments, Victor Martinez is also scheduled to join the Bisons for Tuesday night's game, which is set for 7:05 p.m.

BISON BITS : Jason Cooper is also in the "top 10" in the Buffalo Bisons modern era in such categories as RBI, triples, walks, hits, runs and home runs.

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