Bisons fall to Durham, 7-1
One run may have been enough to win on Sunday, but Monday was a different story.
The Bisons ran into a stampede in the fifth inning as Durham scored five runs on its way to a 7-1 victory in the final game of the four-game series at Coca-Cola Field.
Bisons starting pitcher Ricky Romero struggled with his command after coming off of two quality starts in which he allowed just one earned run in 13 innings.
Romero failed to get out of the third inning, allowing six hits and five earned runs, while striking out just two Durham hitters. He also allowed five walks on the night.
"I fell behind in the count today," Romero said. "By no means am I going to let this discourage me. I put together I string of really, really good starts together and it was just one of those bad days."
Romero, a 2009 all-star with the Blue Jays, had allowed just seven hits in his last two starts. He is still trying to find his first win and sits at 0-2 in nine games started for the Herd.
Durham's Cole Figueroa ended Romero's night early, with a two-run double to right field that scored Ryan Roberts and Chris Gimenez to put the Bulls ahead, 4-0 with one out in the fourth.
"He wasn't as sharp (today)," Bisons manager Marty Brown said. "He had trouble pitching ahead in the count and left a few balls up… I think he had his same fastball, his same stuff, just didn't have as good a command tonight."
Romero knows what it takes to get to the next level and stay there. He just has not been as consistent has he would like as he showed tonight after coming off strong previous two outings.
Brown and his staff are working hard to help the left-hander make positive progress every time he steps on the mound.
"We just have to keep rolling him out there and see how he is and just keep an eye on his progress," Brown said.
"I think this is a thing that any type of pitcher goes through, especially at this level and the next. So, I think Ricky is going to have to make those adjustments."
Romero said he has to keep moving forward, focus on the positives and let the negatives out of this head. Throwing strikes, getting ahead in the count and going deeper into games are some of the things he has been focusing on. Tonight it just did not happen for him.
"It's disappointing when you lose like this…today is over and done with. There's nothing I can do about it," he said.
Shortstop Jose Reyes got the only RBI for the Herd on a single to left field that scored center fielder Anthony Gose in the fifth inning.
Reyes ended his last game on a rehab assignment with the Bisons going 2-for-4. He will play with Double-A New Hampshire on Wednesday.
"My concern before I came here was running," Reyes said. "My running was good. I don't worry about my timing or stuff like that because I work hard enough on my swing. When I came here, I was more worried about running the bases. Everything went fine so I'm very happy about what I did here."
The Herd had runners on first and third with no outs in the fifth with Reyes up to bat.
The 30-year-old shortstop, playing in his fourth-straight game with the Bisons, hit an RBI-single to left field that scored center fielder Anthony Gose to put the Herd on the board. Gose bunt-singled and stole a base to get into scoring position.
Claudio Vargas came in for Romero and allowed a double and a triple to the next two hitters, giving the Bulls a 6-0 lead. Bourgeois hit a sac-fly to center field in the next at-bat, scoring Beckham form third.
Vargas pitched 3.2 innings in relief for the Herd. He allowed two earned runs on four hits, while striking out two and walking two.
Right-hander John Stilson added two innings for Buffalo and had one strikeout.
Bisons Notes: Since Jose Reyes joined the Herd Friday, the Bisons have averaged 12,200 fans…The crowd of 7,442 tonight gave the four-game homestand a total of 48,802 fans…It is the largest attendance during a four-game span since 2001…Reyes went 7-for-17 over the last four games with Buffalo…Center fielder Anthony Gose threw out Shelley Duncan at home plate in the second inning…Gose also had four put-outs in center field…Mauro Gomez grounded into three double plays in the game…Eugenio Velez had three walks.