STAFF REPORTS
In a crazy finish on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium, the Chiefs dealt the Bisons their eighth consecutive defeat.
Irving Falu’s fourth hit of the night was a ninth-inning, walk-off home run that lifted the Thruway rival to a 7-6 victory over the Bisons.
The defeat comes in a game the Herd led throughout. Buffalo tallied in the first, tacked on two more runs in the third and carried a 5-2 advantage into the eighth. Even after the Chiefs tied the game at five, Christian Lopes’ sacrifice fly in the ninth gave the Bisons another chance to snap its recent skid.
But former Bisons’ designated hitter Clint Robinson led off the ninth with a double, and after Chris Smith was able to retire the next two batters, Falu lifted a ball into the well-traveled jet stream that is right field at NBT Bank Stadium.
For Falu, the home run was his fourth of the season. It’s also the third time the Bisons have lost on a walkoff home run this season.
Rowdy Tellez opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning and then homered for the fifth time in the third inning as the Bisons opened up a 3-0 advantage. After the Chiefs closed the gap to within 3-2, the Herd added insurance in the sixth on an RBI-double from Gregorio Petit and a run-scoring triple from Roemon Fields.
The Chiefs plated three runs off Herd reliever Wil Browning in the eighth inning to tie the score. Fields led off the ninth with a single and made it all the way to third base on a stolen base and fielder’s interference. That set up Lopes sac fly that gave Buffalo their third, albeit short-lived lead.
Lucas Harrell started for the Bisons and allowed two runs in five innings of work. Smith falls to 1-2 on the season in the loss.
The Bisons are now just 1 and 12 in their last 13 games away from Coca-Cola Field.
BISONS NOTES: The Bisons 7-8-9 hitters of Gregorio Petit, Shane Opitz and Roemon Fields all went 2-4 at the plate…Fields and Christian Lopes each collected a steal for their 12th and 11th on the season, respectively….Of the Herd’s 11 hits on Thursday night, seven went for extra bases.
