Cole, Soto lead Chiefs past Bisons

The Syracuse Chiefs took down the Buffalo Bisons for the third consecutive day, 5-2, at Coca-Cola Field on Sunday afternoon. A.J. Cole continued the Chiefs' strong run of starting pitching with seven innings of two-run ball. Neftali Soto picked up two hits, including his third home run of the season, to help lead Syracuse to victory.

After being no-hit through the first three innings by Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez, throwing on Major League rehab, Syracuse (30-50) broke the game open in the fourth inning. Nationals outfielder Chris Heisey, also on Major League rehab, led off the frame with a double into the left-center field gap. In the next at-bat, Clint Robinson drilled a line drive off the left-field wall for a double that plated Heisey. Then it was Soto's turn to crush a pitch to deep left field. The 28-year-old singled on a 1-1 pitch off the top of the left-field fence, scoring Robinson. One batter later, with Alejandro De Aza at the plate, Sanchez tossed a wild pitch past Bisons catcher Raffy Lopez, allowing Soto to move up to second. In the same plate appearance, De Aza slapped a single into right field, bringing Soto in to score and putting the Chiefs out in front 3-0.
The Chiefs added a run to their lead in the following inning. Emmanuel Burriss led off the inning with a single into right field. He then stole second base for the second time on the afternoon. Two batters later, with Murphy Smith on the mound for Buffalo, Andrew Stevenson tattooed a line-drive single into center field, advancing Burriss to third in the process. Irving Falu followed by poking a ground ball up the middle and into center field, scoring Burriss and increasing the lead to 4-0.
Buffalo (36-37) snapped a 14-inning scoreless streak in the bottom of the fifth inning. Roemon Fields led off the frame by roping a line drive into center field for a single. In the next at-bat, the speedster Fields started to steal second on an 0-2 pitch from Cole to Jonathan Diaz. Diaz flicked the pitch into right field toward De Aza, who came up throwing to third. However, his throw got away from Falu on the bag, allowing Fields to score and Diaz to reach second on the throwing error. After a pair of fly outs and a walk from Michael Saunders put runners at first and second with two outs, Rowdy Tellez looped a soft line drive into left, bringing Diaz into score from second and cutting the lead to 4-2.
Soto continued on a hot stretch with one swing of the bat in the sixth. With one out, the powerful right-hander demolished an 0-1 pitch from Smith well over the left-field fence, bumping the Syracuse lead to 5-2. The homer was Soto's third of the season with the Chiefs and his third in four days.
The Bisons brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning against Trevor Gott, but the hard-throwing right-hander exited the inning unscathed when he induced a groundout from Saunders to end the game.
The Chiefs and Bisons finish up a four-game series Monday night at 6:05 p.m. from Coca-Cola Field. The Nationals' top-pitching prospect per Baseball America, Erick Fedde, will make his first start of the season with Syracuse. Right-hander Mike Bolsinger takes the mound for the Bisons.