Columbus Offense Comes to Life in Ninth to Stun Buffalo
May 30, 2018 - International League (IL1)
Columbus Clippers News Release
The Columbus Clippers started the scoring early and overcame a late deficit to take game one of their-three-game set against the Buffalo Bisons 7-5 tonight at Coca-Cola Field.
Despite a controversial call at first base with two outs in the seventh inning, which provided Buffalo with a lead, the Clippers rallied in the ninth inning, sparked by big hits from Adam Rosales and Brandon Barnes.
The Clippers struck first in the first inning when Yu Chang scored Yandy Diaz and Mike Papi with a double, his first of three on the day. The next batter, Francisco Mejia, boomed a triple to centerfield, bringing in Chang to give Columbus an early 3-0 lead.
Buffalo scored for the first time in the bottom of the fifth after Rowdy Tellez led off with a double against Clippers' starter Adam Wilk. He moved to third on a single and Roemon Fields brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
Down 3-1, the Bisons stormed back in the bottom of the sixth when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. smacked a two-out, two-run homerun off Wilk to pull even at 3-3.
After the Clippers went down in a scoreless top of the seventh, the bottom half was mired in controversy. With one out and two men on, Anthony Alford grounded into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but he was called safe at first, allowing a run to score. Clippers' manager Chris Tremie was ejected after arguing the call
After the run scored, the Clippers went to the bullpen, bringing in Luke Eubank to relieve Wilk. Eubank escaped the inning without allowing a run, so when it was all said and done, Wilk tossed six and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out six.
The Buffalo bullpen kept the Columbus bats quiet until the ninth, and Al Alburquerque came on to close things out in the ninth. The first batter he faced, Rosales, hammered the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center to tie the game at 4-4.
The Clippers continued the rally after that, as Diaz and Brandon Guyer singled to set the table for Barnes. He hammered a double deep down the right field line to bring in Diaz for a 5-4 lead. Jon Berti then singled to score Guyer and Barnes, padding the Clippers lead at 7-4.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jack Leathersich earned one out, but put two men on and handed the baseball to Cam Hill, who allowed one run on a groundout, but shut the door after that to secure the 7-5 victory.
The Clippers and Bisons will face off tomorrow night with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at Coca-Cola Field.
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