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IL1 Buffalo Bisons

Five-Run Second Inning Leads to 6-4 Bisons' Win

June 15, 2016 - International League (IL1)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


The Bisons beat the Durham Bulls 6-4 on Wednesday. A big five-run outburst by the Herd in the second inning proved to be the difference, as Roberto Hernandez picked up his third win of the year, his first decision since May 18. A dramatic moment came in the eighth, when reliever Ryan Tepera stranded the bases loaded in a two-run ballgame.

The final regular season matchup against the Bulls was a drizzly affair, but the Bisons held on to pick up their second-straight win, improving to 35-31 in 2016.

Back-to-back walks against Bulls' knuckleball starter Eddie Gamboa brought up David Adams in the bottom of the second inning. The righty laced a single into left center to give the Herd a 1-0 lead. Catcher Tony Sanchez drove in Junior Lake later in the inning, doubling the score to 2-0. With the bases loaded and Domonic Brown at the plate, a passed ball on Durham catcher J.P. Arencibia scored a third run.

After Brown struck out, Gamboa's quick outing ended, as he was replaced by Mark Sappington. Jesus Montero then knocked in a pair of runs with a single. Eight Bisons' batters reached base in the Herd's five-run second inning, as the club batted around.

"Any time we can put up a crooked number in one inning is big," manager Gary Allenson said postgame. "It started off being a real comfortable game after the second inning. It was the exact opposite at the end."

Alexi Casilla led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple, his first of the year, as he scored to make it 6-0 on a sac-fly by Dalton Pompey.

Roberto Hernandez did not allow a hit through the first three innings. The righty benefitted both from strikeouts, and a number of groundballs.

The veteran Hernandez ran into trouble in the sixth. Domonic Brown made a leaping catch in leftfield to rob Bulls' centerfielder Cameron Seitzer of extra bases to lead off the frame. However, the next hitter, Johnny Field, hit a ball over the leftfield wall for a home run, making it a 6-1 game. Hernandez got Dayron Verona to bounce into a double play with runners on the corners, ending the threat and the inning.

Hernandez tied season highs in strikeouts and innings pitched in the victory, fanning six Bulls over 6.1 innings.

"Roberto Hernandez did a very good job," Allenson said. "Looks like he got a little tired going out for the second inning. He was working ahead for the most part, got his sinker down and got some ugly swings."

Durham cut the deficit to 6-2 in the seventh, as a RBI double by Richie Shaffer knocked Hernandez out of the game. Back from a stint with the Blue Jays, switch-pitcher Pat Venditte entered and promptly served up a two-run home run to Kyle Roller. The Bisons held a 6-4 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Two straight walks by Venditte brought in Ryan Tepera in the eighth. After a wild pitch moved runners to second and third with no outs, Tepera struck out the next two hitters, walked Jake Goebbert, then struck out Richie Shaffer to strand the bases loaded. A scoreless ninth inning by Tepera sealed the win for the Herd.

"That's part of being in the bullpen," Tepera said of his tightrope act in the eighth inning. "Gary put his trust in me and called my name."

Tepera saved his eighth-straight save opportunity, and lowers his ERA to 3.04 on the season.

"Lately I've just been making it simple, throwing two-seams in and cutters away, and the cutter was really good today," Tepera said.

"He's matured a lot," Allenson said of his closer. "He's going to be a pretty good big league pitcher."

Mark Sappington pitched 3.0 innings in relief for Durham, allowing three hits, two walks, and one earned run. Dylan Floro entered in the fifth, before giving way to Adam Kolarek in the seventh, who pitched 2.0 scoreless innings. The Bulls' bullpen as a unit held Buffalo to just four hits and one earned run.

The Bisons are off on Thursday, and then head to Lehigh Valley to take on the IronPigs for a four-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 7:05 from Coca-Cola Park, with Chris Leroux squaring off against Ben Lively.

BISONS NOTES:

On Wednesday, the Bisons activated left-hander Aaron Loup, who was optioned by the Blue Jays on Tuesday, and activated catcher Luis Hurtado, who last played in Triple-A in 2012 with Las Vegas... Utility man Andy Burns and reliever Chad Girodo both were recalled to the Blue Jays. Burns and Girodo both earned their first big league call-ups earlier in the season... Jesus Montero picked up two runs batted in, taking sole possession of the team lead in RBI. He was tied with Matt Dominguez with 34 coming into Wednesday... Roberto Hernandez now has four straight starts of allowing three earned runs or less... The Bisons tied their season-high with five runs in the second inning. The club last scored five in an inning on June 4 against Syracuse.

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International League Stories from June 15, 2016


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