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IL Buffalo Bisons

Tellez Lights the Fuse on Bisons Offense in 5-4 Win over Lehigh Valley

July 4, 2021 - International League (IL)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


While the fourth of July fireworks at Trenton Thunder Ballpark weren't scheduled until after Sunday's series finale, Rowdy Tellez decided to get the show started early driving in four runs to lead the Buffalo Bisons over the Leigh Valley Iron Pigs 5-4.

Down 3-1 headed into the fifth inning Breyvic Valera and Alejandro Kirk each reached base with a pair of leadoff singles to put pressure on the IronPigs for the first time all evening. Tellez stepped into the box following a Kevin Smith flyball that nearly left the yard and launched moonshot into deep right field to jump the Bisons into the lead 4-3.

Tellez went with a less dramatic approach in the seventh grounding out down the right-field line with the bases loaded to drive home and extend the lead to 5-3.

Since rejoining the Herd on June 22, Tellez has 11 hits in 10 games including four multi-hit games. He has also driven in eight runs and produced three long-balls in six games with a hit.

Before Tellez turned the tide of the game, Buffalo struggled to get the offense off the ground early generating just one hit over the first four innings. Chase Anderson, with the IronPigs on an MLB rehab assignment, set the tone throwing three scoreless and punching out three to put Buffalo in a 3-0 hole.

T.J. Zeuch made the start for Buffalo and looked sharp early retiring the first four batters of the game. In the second Ryan Cordell hit a ball off of Zeuch shin that deflected to Tellez at first. Tellez failed to scoop the grounder and committed an error as Cordell reached first.

Following the error, the inning got out of control for Zeuch. The righty surrendered three hits in the frame including an RBI double to Darick Hall and a two-run home run to Logan Moore. Both RBI hits were pushed to the opposite field and none of the runs were charged to Zeuch, but the IronPigs held a 3-0 after two innings.

Zeuch found a game plan that worked after the second inning setting batters up with his curveball and finishing them off with an elevated fastball and slider. Normally throwing to contact, the Toronto Blue Jays' #26 prospect finished up 5.1 innings and struck out a season-high five hitters to earn a no-decision.

"He's just a tough competitor himself," said Bisons' manager Casey Candaele. "He took a ball of the ankle bone and came back and pitched great. He did an outstanding job and got better as it went on and he's been working on a new slider and it's paying off."

Buffalo's first run came in the fifth. Richard Urena laced a double into the left-field, reached third on a Cullen Large ground out and touched home plate on a wild pitch to Juan Graterol to make the score 3-1.

The IronPigs did not threaten to score again until the ninth inning. Joel Payamps, Patrick Murphy and Bryan Baker allowed just two hits and no runs combined over the 2.2 innings leading up to the ninth.

John Axford came on for the final and ran into trouble. The hard-throwing righty walked the first two batters he faced and allowed a run to score on a Nick Maton groundout. But with fireworks popping off in the distance Axford rose to the occasion striking out Matt Vierling looking to earn his second consecutive save and the Bisons' third consecutive series victory.

Series Highlights

Only rain delays have been able to dampen the Bisons' winning ways over the past three series. The Herd continued their dominance over the bottom three teams in the Triple-A Northeast division posting a 14-4 record against the Rochester Red Wings, Syracuse Mets and IronPigs over the last three weeks.

Against the IronPigs in particular Buffalo dropped a pair of games that were postponed and rescheduled due to rain delays but were ultimately able to take four games in the series with some help from a pair of major league catchers in Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen. Kirk had five hits and three RBIs in five starts while Jansen had one hit and scored twice in a pair of starts.

Kevin Smith tried out a new position this series and while he made have had worries about playing the outfield for the first time since high school it did not affect his bat.

"I don't think I've ever actually started the outfield at this level in my life," said Smith. "I think I went out there a bit when I was younger, but it's probably been years."

Smith played left field and third base during the series despite being primarily a shortstop and produced no errors. With his bat, he had five hits, two home runs and drove in seven in six starts. "I was just happy that we kind of pulled away and I couldn't mess it up," said Smith.

With their third consecutive series victory, the Bisons (31-21) continue to climb in the Triple-A East standings. After starting the series 5.5 games back of the league-leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders the Herd has closed the gap to four games and sits in sixth place overall.

Buffalo will go back on the road Tuesday to face the Red Wings at Frontier Field. The first pitch is expected for 7:05 p.m. with right Thomas Hatch expected to take the mound for the Herd.

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