Bisons' late rally knocks off Chiefs

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, dropped the first of a four-game set to the Buffalo Bisons, 6-1, on Monday. In a game that saw some great pitching from both starters, the Bisons got the better of the Chiefs' bullpen, igniting for five runs in the eighth inning.

Buffalo (5-4) got on the board first with a Mauro Gomez solo home run off of Danny Rosenbaum in the second inning. Gomez's first blast of the year was Rosenbaum's only blemish as he tossed a fantastic six innings, giving up one run on two hits. 15 of Rosenbaum's 18 outs were groundouts.

Syracuse (6-4) knotted the game up at 1-1, when Chris Marrero belted a solo shot to right field in the fourth inning. Marrero's second home run of the year, though, was the only run the Chiefs would get, as starter Claudio Vargas and reliever Bobby Korecky shut down the Syracuse offense.

Then, in the eighth inning, Buffalo exploded for five runs. Eugenio Velez led off with a booming home run to dead centerfield giving Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Right-hander Jeff Mandel then surrendered two consecutive singles with one out, before manager Tony Beasley made the switch to left-hander Patrick McCoy.  McCoy entered and was greeted rudely, conceding two runs on a towering Jim Negrych double. The Bisons scored their final two runs on a Gomez home run, his second of the game.

Syracuse tries to even the series up on Tuesday evening at 6:00 game. Right-hander Ross Ohlendorf will throw for the Chiefs against Bisons right-hander Justin Germano.