Bisons unable to overcome Worcester offense in 9-1 loss on Tuesday

Buffalo, N.Y. - On Tuesday night at Sahlen Field, the Buffalo Bisons labored to get men on base against Worcester Red Sox starter Gage Ziehl, and two errors and a Romy Gonzalez three-run homer made the first night of September a long one for the Herd as they fell 9-1 for their fifth loss in their last six games.

A pair of base hits and a walk loaded the bases with no one out for Worcester in the top of the first against Bisons starter Josh Stephan, who limited the damage to one run by getting a ground-ball double play and a strikeout on the next two batters.

The Herd answered back immediately in the bottom half against Ziehl. Rhylan Thomas ripped a one-out double down the right-field line in his first career at-bat for Buffalo, then Yohendrick Piñango drove him in with a two-out RBI single. Piñango tied for second on the Bisons with 13 RBIs in August.

In the third, the WooSox put runners at the corners on a one-out walk and an error, then Mikey Romero drove them both in with a ground-ball double that was hard to cut off in the left-center gap, giving Worcester a 3-1 lead. Another error put two men on again, but a second double-play ball ended the threat.

Stephan worked around a baserunner in the fourth and fifth innings for scoreless frames to end his day on a high note. In his five innings, he allowed three runs, though only two were earned, on four hits and three walks while striking out four.

Javen Coleman replaced Stephan in the sixth and worked around a two-out walk to post a scoreless frame.

Pat Gallagher started the seventh strongly, aided by C.J. Stubbs catching Breiden Ward, Triple-A’s stolen-base leader, for the second out. However, the WooSox got a pair of singles, then Gonzalez hit a three-run home run to extend Worcester’s lead to 6-1.

One of those balls was the Herd’s only baserunner of that stretch, as Davis Schneider collected a leadoff single to the opposite field in the fourth. That hit would become the Herd’s last hit until they were down to their final out.

Sam Gardner was the next man out of Buffalo’s bullpen, and after allowing a leadoff walk and a stolen base, he put up a scoreless eighth inning.

Noah Song, who picked up the last out of the seventh inning for Worcester, came back out for the eighth. With two outs, Ismael Munguia snapped a streak of 13 straight Bisons retired with a walk before a groundout retired the side.

Gardner returned in the ninth inning and faced a bases-loaded situation with one out. Anthony Seigler lofted a ball to deep left-center that one-hopped the wall for a two-run ground-rule double, making it 8-1 WooSox.

Chase Lee replaced Gardner following Seigler’s double, and a sacrifice fly by Kristian Campbell gifted Worcester its ninth run.

The Bisons and WooSox will play the second game of this six-game set on Wednesday at Sahlen Field at 6:05 p.m. RHP John Klein will take the mound for the Herd. You can listen to the action on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy app, and bisons.com starting at 5:45 p.m. with Pat Malacaro and Duke McGuire.