STAFF REPORTS
A six-run first inning wasn’t enough for the Bisons to take down Lehigh Valley at Coca-Cola Field on Tuesday evening. The IronPigs rallied after being down five runs and used back-to-back homers from Brock Stassi and Hector Gomez to take the final lead of the night and seal the 9-7 victory for the visitors.
Hitting the first Murphy Smith pitch he saw, Stassi collected his first home run of the season in the top-half of the fifth inning. The bomb towards right-center field was enough to give the IronPigs an 8-7 lead and their first lead since the opening frame.
Gomez had a huge day by giving Lehigh Valley two home runs on the evening. Just a single at bat before Stassi, Gomez knotted the game up at seven apiece with a two-run homer to left field to score Nick Williams from first base. His first home run of the day was a solo effort in the second inning. The third basemen’s pair of homers gave him a season tally of seven, four of which have come against the Bisons.
Buffalo had a sizeable lead after the first inning when Blue Jays outfielder Steve Pearce brought the Herd into motion with a line drive single to right field. Rowdy Tellez followed that up with a double to score Pearce. A pair of singles from Jason Leblebijian and Mike Ohlman then brought Tellez back to home plate. After a walk from Gregorio Petit, Ian Parmley and Christian Lopes both tallied a pair of RBIs after consecutive doubles to give the Herd a 6-1 advantage.
Buffalo added their final run of the night when Ian Parmley hit a sacrifice fly towards Lehigh Valley’s Williams to score Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Brett Oberholtzer gave the Bisons 4.1 innings of work from the mound to start the game. The southpaw allowed 11 hits, seven runs, and a walk. Murphy Smith (2-1) came in for relief, giving up three hits and two runs in the process. Mike Bolsinger and John Stilson closed out the game, allowing two hits and a walk.
Buffalo continues their seven-game home stand on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. Lehigh Valley will have Mark Appel (4-2, 5.65 ERA) on the mound and lefty T.J. House (5-5, 3.77 ERA) will start for the Herd.
BISONS NOTES: Buffalo’s 11 hits on the night are more than two-thirds of the total number of hits they had against Lehigh Valley (15) in the last series the two teams faced…Buffalo’s first seven runs were the most scored within the first three innings of any game this year. The previous high was at 6 in a May 15 matchup with Syracuse…Every Herd batter collected a hit in tonight’s game.
