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Smith's Ninth Inning Homer Completes Herd Comeback

May 25, 2021 - Major League Baseball Draft League (MLBDL)
Trenton Thunder News Release


(Moosic, PA) - It was a tall order for the Buffalo Bisons as they strolled into PNC Field on Tuesday two games back of the RailRiders. The Herd were coming off a series loss in Worcester in which they were shut out on Sunday and learned on the off day that Alek Manoah was gone after his first Major League call-up to Toronto. But there they were in game one, battling back against the RailRiders bullpen, which was tasked with protecting a 2-nothing lead after Zack Zehner's fifth inning double. Buffalo scored in the sixth and seventh to tie it up, and Kevin Smith's one-out homer in the ninth started a three-run inning that carried them to a 5-2 comeback win.

Connor Overton's third spot start went as well as his first two, with the righthander working three scoreless innings with five strikeouts. His counterpart, Nestor Cortes, went a little further and kept the game scoreless with four innings and three strikeouts. Despite picking up one-out singles in their first three innings, the Bisons were never able to advance a runner into scoring position.

With the game still scoreless in the home fifth, the RailRiders went to work against Tayler Saucedo, who had gone 1-2-3 in the fourth. With four straight hits, including the Zehner double into right-center, the RailRiders ended the lefthander's scoreless innings streak at 11.2 for a 2-0 lead. It was in the top of the sixth where the Herd would start to mount the comeback.

With one out, Richard Ureña took the eighth pitch from Nick Nelson deep to right to get the Bisons on the scoreboard. Then in the seventh, Breyvic Valera worked a walk on the tenth pitch from Nelson before stealing second to put the tying run in scoring position. Two batters later, Cullen Large laced a double into right field to tie the score for his third run batted in after the RailRiders went to Nick Goody to pick up the last two outs before the stretch.

The biggest spots of the night belonged to Jackson McClelland in the seventh and Jeremy Beasley in the eighth. McLelland surrendered a one-out double to Thomas Milone before walking catcher Rob Brantly to put a pair of runners on base. A wild pitch pushed the runners to second and third, but McClelland locked it up by getting the next two outs to keep the game tied. Beasley's (1-0) situation was more dire when he loaded the bases with one out on a single and a pair of walks. He also dug deep and struck out the next two RailRiders to maintain a 2-2 ballgame for the ninth.

Looking for their first lead against RailRiders closer Luis Garcia, Smith launched his fourth homer of the roadtrip to dead center to give the Bisons a 3-2 edge with one out. On the very next pitch, Large smashed a single for his third hit, and Logan Warmoth followed a short time later with a broken bat single into right field. On an 0-2 pitch, Juan Graterol snuck an RBI double down the left field line for his second hit and a 4-2 lead. Buffalo's final run scored on a wild pitch, giving Bryan Baker more than enough cushion to earn his second save and get the Bisons (12-7) within a game of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (13-6).

The series continues on Wednesday, May 26th at 6:35 PM when Thomas Hatch (0-1, 3.00) continues his rehab assignment for the Bisons against Scranton's Nick Green (0-0, 4.50). Pregame coverage with Gregg Caserta starts at 6:00 with the Bisons Pregame Show on the Bisons Radio Network.

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