BUFFALO — The Bisons beat the Indianapolis Indians 9-3 on Tuesday, starting a nine-game homestand on the right track.
A strong outing for starter Scott Copeland, and big offensive nights for Andy Burns (three-run home run), A.J. Jimenez (2-4 with a home run), Jesus Montero (4-5) and Junior Lake (3-2 with three RBI) led to the Herd’s fourth-straight defeat of Indianapolis this season.
Burns connected for what may have been the most important hit of the game in the sixth. The Bisons’ second baseman broke a tie score, mashing a three-run home run to left against Indians’ starter Steven Brault, putting the Herd up 4-1.
“It looked like Burns’ homer to give us the 4-1 lead kind of helped everybody relax,” Bisons’ manager Gary Allenson said postgame. “We did a really good job the second half of the game. It was too different games.”
Tuesday got off to a less-than perfect start for Copeland, as leadoff batter Pedro Florimon took the fourth pitch of the game deep for a solo-home run.
“It was really a wakeup call,” Copeland said of the quick home run. “It kind of woke me up and got me going.”
Copeland pitched effectively after Florimon’s leadoff shot, retiring 13 in a row at one point. He walked his first two hitters of the game in the sixth, but fanned three in the inning, keeping the game tied at one. Copeland finished with a line of 6.0 innings, three hits, six strikeouts and one earned run, as he wins his first game as a Bison since last Aug. 26.
“Before the first two innings, it wasn’t very good,” Copeland said of his outing. “But after that, I kind of got in a good groove.”
“Initially he was having a tough time getting the ball down,” Allenson said of Copeland. “He gave up the solo-homer leading off the game there. He got away with repeating his fastball and didn’t get hurt by it. He settled down and did a pretty good job.”
The righty starter pitched for Buffalo in 2014 and 2015, before making 13 starts with the LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization earlier in 2016.
“It was a little different, I learned a lot of stuff, but hopefully I can get back to the show,” Copeland said of his stint in Korea. “Strike zones were smaller, fields were smaller, but I definitely got better as a pitcher.”
Catcher A.J. Jimenez tied-up the score for the Herd in the third, knocking a leadoff homer to even the game at one.
After Burns’ blast, Goft Ngoepe knocked a RBI single off the glove of a diving Ryan Goins into centerfield in the seventh, cutting the Bisons’ lead to 4-2. Aaron Loup, on the mound in relief of Copeland, benefitted from a constant bugaboo for the Bisons’ offensively this year, in the form of an inning-ending double play.
Brault left following Burns home run in the sixth, giving way to Lithuanian-born Dovydas Neverauskas. In the seventh, the Bisons found themselves with the bases loaded, when Junior Lake tapped a two-run single, forcing Neverauskas from the game. John Kuchno then stranded a pair of runners on base, fanning Andy Burns.
Bo Schultz yielded a RBI-single to Indy’s Elias Diaz in the eighth, as the Herd’s lead held at 6-3 entering the bottom of the eighth.
Eight hitters came to the plate in the eighth, as Buffalo scored three times in the bottom of the inning. Dalton Pompey reached on a bunt single, stole second and moved to third on a throwing error, and scored on a single by Matt Dominguez. A batter later, Jesus Montero knocked his fourth hit, bringing home Ryan Goins. Finally, Junior Lake knocked a single to score Buffalo’s final run.
Chad Girodo pitched a scoreless inning in the ninth to seal the Herd’s victory.
Tomorrow, Scott Diamond looks to bounce back from a rough outing his last time out, in which he allowed six earned runs in a loss to Syracuse. He will square off against Indianapolis’ starter Trevor Williams on Wednesday, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. from Coca-Cola Field. The first 3,000 fans to enter through the Inspire Dental Gate at Swan will receive an Aaron Sanchez bobblehead.
BISONS NOTES:
Prior to Tuesdays game, infielder Alexi Casilla was activated off the disabled list… A.J. Jimenez third-inning blast was just his third of the year, and first since May 24, which was the last time any Bison catcher connected for a home run… Jesus Montero picks up his fifth multi-hit game in his last nine contests… The Herd clinches its first series win over Indianapolis since the Bisons’ championship season of 2004… Burns extends his hitting streak to seven games, and his three-run home run gives him his second three-RBI game this year.
from Bisons.com via IFTTT
All WNY is made possible thanks to coffee and sleep deprivation.
We appreciate your readership. We like money, too.
