Yanks Earn Sweep with 8-7 Win

Nick Evans hit a pair of home runs, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees rallied late for an 8-7 victory over the Bisons on Thursday afternoon at Coca-Cola Field. The win gave the Yanks a four-game sweep of the Herd.

The Bisons had leads of 6-3 and 7-4, due in large part to a pair of two-run home runs from Evans. The first baseman went deep in the first and fifth inning as Buffalo battled back from an early 3-0 deficit.

But the Yankees had a comeback of their own. Down by three in the eighth inning, former Bisons' MVP Todd Linden led off with a solo home run to deep right centerfield to pull his new club to within, 7-5. Eric Duncan's two-out triple brought home Shelley Duncan before Justin Leone tied the game with an RBI-single. An inning later, Juan Miranda knocked in his league-best 13th RBI when he smashed a single off the glove of Jonathan Malo at third with the bases loaded.

Mark Melancon walked a pair of Bisons in the ninth inning, but got pinch-hitter Michel Abreu to foul out to end the game.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored three in the top of a first inning on a solo home run from John Rodriguez and a two-run shot from Shelley Duncan. Buffalo fought back when Evans homered in the bottom half of the first. Jesus Feliciano tied the game an inning later with a sac fly. The Herd took their first lead of the game three innings later when Cory Sullivan drove him Feliciano with another sacrifice fly.

The loss for Buffalo went to Elmer Dessens, who allowed a run over the final inning and a third of the game. The Bisons will now travel to Syracuse for the start of a six-game road swing.