IL Buffalo Bisons

Extra Inning Victory Helps Buffalo Take 10 of 12 on Road Trip

Published on June 27, 2021 under International League (IL)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


The Buffalo Bisons put the finishing touches on a tremendous road trip Sunday with their second consecutive extra-inning victory, defeating the Syracuse Mets 9-7 in 11 innings at NBT Bank Stadium.

Buffalo lost the lead in the ninth for the second consecutive game after Hobie Harris surrendered a solo home run to Brandon Drury on the first pitch of the inning.

Buffalo and the Mets both responded accordingly in the tenth scoring their free baserunners from second. Buffalo scored Tyler White on a sacrifice fly to center field by Logan Warmoth and the Mets followed doing the same driving Wilfredo Tovar home with a sacrifice fly from Mason Williams.

Kevin Vicuna and the Bisons went with the bunt approach in the 11th and drove home the free base runner thanks to an error by the pitcher trying to make a fielder's choice throw to third base. Breyvic Valera decided he did not want the game to go any further and added an insurance run driving home Vicuna with a double down the left-field line. In addition, Valera scored on a wild pitch to make the score 9-6.

Jackson McClelland was finally able to close out the Mets inducing a trio of flyouts to earn the save.

Prior to the ninth, Buffalo clung to the lead throughout and put together a well-rounded performance in all aspects of the game.

Buffalo scored early as Christian Colon jumped on the Mets' starter Akeem Bostick launching his seventh home run of the year with only one out in the first inning.

The long ball drove in a pair with Breyvic Valera on base with a leadoff single to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead.

Tyler White and Dilson Herrera also went yard lifting a pair of flyballs to straightaway center field and left field to extend the Herd's lead to 4-1. White's blast was his first of the year and Herrera's was his fifth.

Bostick exited after surrendering five hits and four runs over four frames. A.J. Schugel replaced Bostick and wasn't able to record an out to begin the fifth He instead loaded the bases with three consecutive walks before being relieved by Marcel Renteria. Herrera drew a walk from Renteria to drive home his second RBI of the night and 13th of the season. Buffalo put zero balls in play in the inning striking out three times and drawing four walks to add to their 5-1 lead.

Jacob Waguespack made his third start of the road trip for the Bisons and his first in the series. He allowed one run and four hits over five innings on a season-high 104 pitches.

Waguespack got it done consistently with his breaking ball which was finding the zone around 86 MPH. He complimented the off-speed pitch with a 92-95 MPH fastball and an occasional curveball hanging around 75 MPH. The righty earned the win in two of his three starts during the road triple going 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA. He allowed just two runs in 15.2 innings pitched over the road trip.

Tovar cut into the lead for the Mets, after Waguespack's exited, striking for a two-run off Tommy Milone to make the game 5-3. Milone arrived on the Bisons' roster the day of the game after being sent on a rehab assignment with left shoulder inflammation.

David Rodriguez also aided the Mets' comeback efforts hitting an eighth-inning home run off Travis Bergan to cut the lead to 5-4 before tying the game in the ninth.

Series Notes:

Losers of six of nine coming into a 12 game road trip the Buffalo Bisons flipped a switch winning 10 of 12 and putting them in the thick of the Triple-A Northeast division race.

While on paper Buffalo won five of six games in Syracuse, it was no cakewalk. The Mets made the Herd work winning each game by an average of fewer than two runs per contest. Buffalo also needed comebacks to win in two of the five victories, not including two extra-inning triumphs.

The Bisons got extended production from their starters all week despite all five of the wins being awarded to relievers. The Buffalo starters posted a 3.60 ERA in 30 innings pitched to improve on their Triple-A East best 3.69 starters ERA.

Alternatively, the Bisons' bullpen had one of its roughest series thus far into 2021. Buffalo's relievers posted a 5.96 ERA through the six games but still sustain a Triple-A East best 2.93 ERA.

Offensively, Buffalo scored early and in extras. The pair of runs in the first inning of game six continues a trend of scoring early for the Herd who put runs up in the first three innings of every game but one during the series. In the extra-inning games Buffalo came up clutch scoring six runs over three bonus innings.

Buffalo got themselves back in the division chase thanks to their 10-2 road trip, 13-9 on the road this season, picking up wins in five out of six games in Rochester against the Red Wings and in Syracuse. The Bisons started the road trip six games back of the Triple-A Northeast division leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and still remain 5.5 games back but have closed the gap to one game back of the second-place Worcester Red Sox.

After Monday's off-day the Bisons (27-19) will head back to their temporary home at Trenton Thunder Ballpark for their first series of the year against the fourth-place Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Check out the Buffalo Bisons Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from June 27, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central