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Buffalo Bisons

Francis Nearly Perfect as Bisons Thrash Mets, 14-1

July 20, 2021 - International League (IL)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


Between five home runs and seven dominant innings from Bowden Francis, the Buffalo Bisons played a near-perfect game Tuesday thrashing the Syracuse Mets 14-1 from Trenton Thunder Ballpark.

Francis made just his second start of the season as a member of the Bisons and opened it in near-perfect fashion, working through the first six frames hitless.

Francis attacked batters early on, getting ahead in counts and putting the first six batters he faced in 0-2 holes. He stepped it up a level as the game went on getting ahead in counts against 17 of the 23 batters and using a curveball and cutter to strike out seven.

The hitless streak came to a quick end in the seventh when the Mets Albert Almora turned on Francis' first pitch of the inning for his fourth homer of the year.

Nonetheless, Francis finished the game allowing just one hit and one run to earn his sixth win of the season and second with the Bisons.

Offensively the Buffalo hitters faced off against former AL wins leader Carlos Carrasco who made the start for the Mets during his MLB Rehab assignment.

Big leaguer or minor league pitcher, it did not seem to matter to Kevin Smith who launched a first-inning home run to left field off the Carrasco. The bomb was Smith's second consecutive first-inning long ball and his 16th of the year.

The series against the Mets will be the Bisons' last series in New Jersey and no batter will miss the confines of the Trenton Thunder Ballpark more than Smith. At Buffalo's home away from home, Smith has a .336 batting average to go with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 34 home games.

Cullen Large kept the party going in the second inning, hitting a no-doubter three-run home run to dead center field.

After weeks of Buffalo manager Casey Candaele pleading his case that Large was on the verge of breaking out, the right fielder may have begun his ascent to dominance. Large, coming off a five-game hitless streak, connected on his fourth homer of the year and second of the month. A hopeful sign of things to come.

"It's really interesting if you look at Cullen and his body of work, he's hit the ball consistently hard basically all year," said Candaele. "He has been a guy that has been kind of unlucky and people say things even out so he has a lot of things that should even out as the season progresses."

Richard Urena liked what he saw from Large and decided to go get a home run of his own hitting a solo shot off the top of the wall in right field for back-to-back longballs. Buffalo extended its lead to 5-0 after two innings and chased Carrasco off the mound after Urena's seventh long-ball of the season.

Tyler White hit Buffalo's fourth home run of the night in the sixth inning. The first baseman dropped to one knee to dig out a pitch in the dirt and lift it over the left-field billboards. The blast made it three consecutive games for White with a home run and pushed Buffalo's lead to double-digits, 10-0.

Officially being optioned to Buffalo Tuesday, Alejandro Kirk made his contribution to the blowout in the eighth inning striking for a three-run homer off Mets' shortstop Drew Jackson. Kirk finished the night with three singles off non-position plyers to go with his longball.

The Buffalo bats tied their season-high runs with 14 and struck efficiently accumulating 14 hits. In addition, all members of the Bisons reached base and seven came away with hits.

Buffalo continues to own the Mets leading the season series 9-4 including taking six of the last seven and will roll into Wednesday's game two a season-high 14 games over .500, 39-25. The Mets, 23-43, will come into the matchup with the worst record in Triple-A East.

The first pitch for Wednesday's game two is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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International League Stories from July 20, 2021


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