STAFF REPORTS
Former Bisons’ slugger Clint Robinson homered twice for the Chiefs to lead his current club to an 8-4 victory over the Herd on Tuesday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium.
Robinson, who played 35 games with Buffalo in 2013, hit a two-run shot early in the contest before slugging a three-run blast in the seventh inning to clinch Syracuse’s win. The victory snaps the Chiefs’ five-game losing streak and drops the Bisons under the .500 mark on the road this season (5-6).
Robinson entered Tuesday’s contest in a 1-for-21 slump and with just two home runs in his first 24 games this season. He doubled that total against the Herd, starting with a mammoth blast off Herd starter Jarrett Grube in the fourth inning. That homer to right-center erased a 2-0 Buffalo advantage.
With the scored tied at four, the Chiefs scored four times in the seventh to take their first lead of the game. Just two pitches after Matt Skole broke the tie with an RBI-double to right off Jeff Beliveau, Robinson golfed a three-run shot down the line to cap the rally.
The Bisons had a pair of leads early in the game that they could not hold. Dwight Smith Jr. doubled home Christian Lopez three pitches in the contest before scoring on an RBI-ground out from Jason Leblebijian. After Robinson tied it, the Bisons scored twice in the fifth on RBI-hits from Smith Jr. and Rowdy Tellez.
Grube started for the Bisons and worked through six innings. The righty didn’t have his best stuff, but gave a tired pitching staff much needed work. He picked up five strikeouts, four of which ended innings.
Buffalo is short on arms because of Sunday’s doubleheader and having to use the bullpen to replace scheduled starter Casey Lawrence in Monday night’s 9-3 win. Lawrence has been designated for assignment by the Blue Jays.
The Bisons face the Chiefs again on Wednesday in the team’s first morning start of the season. First pitch from Syracuse is scheduled for 10:35 a.m.
BISONS NOTES: Dwight Smith Jr. finished the game 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. He’s now hitting .327 on the season…Jarrett Grube only walked one in his six innings and has issued just eight free passes in six starts this season (31.0 IP). Jason Leblebijian’s RBI in the first was his team-best 23rd on the season.
