Bisons earn series split with 8-2 win
The Buffalo Bisons needed just two innings to guide them to victory Friday night.
All of the Herd's runs were scored in the third and ninth innings of an 8-2 win over the Gwinnett Braves at Coolray Field. The win earned Buffalo a four-game series split, and it will now head to Charlotte and play four games against the Knights to conclude an eight-game road trip.
The Bisons sent eight batters to the plate and recorded six hits in a three-run third to take a 3-1 lead and 10 more batted in the ninth en route to getting an abundance of insurance runs.
Kevin Pillar, who reached base for the eighth straight game with a single in the ninth, tied the game at one on an RBI fielder's choice to short in the third. Later in the inning, Luis Jimenez and then Moises Sierra, added two-out RBI-singles.
Jimenez led the Herd with three hits and three RBIs while Jim Negrych had two hits, as eight Bisons had at least a hit in their 10-hit attack.
Coming off two straight quality starts, Herd starter Todd Redmond did not officially qualify for another one because he only worked five innings, but he was still effective. The righty allowed two runs on eight hits, didn't walk a batter and whiffed a season-high nine.
The bullpen did a fantastic job of preserving the lead, tossing four shutout innings down the stretch. Not only were they scoreless innings, but the G-Braves were held without a hit, their last hit being a fifth-inning single by Ernesto Mejia.
John Stilson and Mickey Storey each threw two innings of relief, with Storey throwing the final two. He struck out three and was given plenty of breathing room in the ninth.
Negrych led off the five-run ninth with a double before coming around to score, and an out wasn't registered until the sixth batter, Ryan Goins. Jimenez's two-run single up the middle scored the final runs of the long inning.
The Bisons and Knights will begin their four-game series Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and it end with a matchup Monday night.
BISONS NOTES: Munenori Kawasaki was recalled by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier Friday, just two days after he was optioned to Buffalo, as Melky Cabrera was placed on the 15-day disabled list…The Herd has 23 home runs in June, 13 of them coming from Gomez, tying him with Karim Garcia for the most homers hit in a single month in the Bisons' modern era…Negrych's ninth-inning double to the wall in left field was his 23rd of the season…Sean Ochinko drew two walks.