Bisons Win Big on BPO Night, 8-4
July 3, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Buffalo Bisons News Release
On a picturesque Friday night at Coca-Cola Field, a crowd of 17,112 patriotic fans came looking for an Independence Eve Celebration. The Bisons did not disappoint.
Alex Hassan finished a home run shy of the cycle and Melky Mesa added three more hits as the Herd rolled past the Syracuse Chiefs, 8-4. Buffalo scored in five consecutive innings to polish off a two-game sweep of their Thruway Cup rival.
Buffalo kept the near sell-out crowd on their feet throughout, scoring in each frame from the second to the sixth. Hassan's two-out single in the second started the first rally that included RBI hits from Mesa and Jonathan Diaz to open the scoring. In the fourth, the outfielder doubled and came around on another Mesa single, tying the game at four.
In the fifth, it was Hassan's triple into the right field corner that swung the game once and for all for the hometown team. Another rally that began with two outs, Chiefs' starter Taylor Hall hit Brad Glenn with a pitch and then allowed a bloop single to Sean Ochinko to keep the inning alive. Hassan ripped his third hit of the game over the first base bag and past right field Kevin Keyes' attempt to cut the ball off in foul territory.
Buffalo doubled its advantage to 8-4 with two more in the sixth on RBI from Matt Hague and Luke Scott.
With a chance at the cycle, Hassan walked on five pitches to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.
Syracuse kept pace with the Bisons early, notching three of their own runs in the third inning and taking a 4-3 lead halfway through the fourth. But that's where the Herd bullpen squashed any attempt at a Chiefs' comeback. Chad Jenkins and Blake McFarland each retired six straight batters and Bobby Korecky struck out former Bison Darin Mastroianni in the ninth to close out the win.
The victory belonged to Jenkins, his team-high sixth of the season. Andrew Albers started for the Bisons in place of scheduled hurler Felix Doubront, who was promoted to the Blue Jays early on Friday. Albers allowed four runs but struckout six over four innings in his first start since June 7.
Winners of three straight, the Bisons will now head to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for four games in three days against the RailRiders.
BISONS NOTES: Matt Hague became the first player in the International League with 100 hits on the season when he singled in the first inning. He added his 101st hit in the sixth inning for his 30th multi-hit game of the season...Six different Bisons drove in runs in the game. It would've been seven when Caleb Gindl singled in the seventh, but Melky Mesa was thrown out at the plate...Chad Jenkins has now allowed just one run in his last 26.0 innings of work.
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International League Stories from July 3, 2015
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