STAFF REPORTS
The Bisons raked in an emphatic 10-4 win over Toledo on Sunday night at Fifth-Third field. The game was all but sealed by a Teoscar Hernandez grand slam in the second inning.
Hernandez stepped up to the plate with the Herd in comfortable position and with the bases loaded by Christian Lopes, Michael Saunders, and Rowdy Tellez. Stuck in a pitchers count of 0-2, the Bisons right fielder batted his first International League home run towards left field to clean up the bases and give the Bisons an 8-1 lead as a result.
The Herd outfielder’s successful day continued later in the fifth. Tellez made it to first base after a walk and Hernandez added another RBI to his name by drilling a line drive double to center field. Tellez made it all the way to home plate in the process to stretch the Herd advantage to 9-1.
Three other runs were plated in the second frame before Hernandez’s grand slam. Jason Leblebijian had the setup for the string of scores with a double on a grounder that slipped past short. Jon Berti then batted a line drive ball to centerfield to plate Leblebijian. Roemon Fields then hit a single of his own before Saunders doubled to right field to bring home a pair and move Buffalo up 4-1.
T.J. House (W, 9-11) delivered a 7.2 inning start for the Herd and allowed the first two Toledo runs in the first and eighth innings respectively off of a trio of hits. House threw 112 pitches with 65 of them hitting the strike zone. Wil Browning closed the game out, allowing a pair of runs off of five hits.
Buffalo gets an off day on Monday before they head back home to Coca-Cola field for a 7:05 p.m. matchup on Tuesday with Indianapolis. Luis Santos (3-11, 4.06 ERA) will work the mound for the Bisons and the Indians will give Drew Hutchison (6-8, 3.73 ERA) the start.
BISONS NOTES: Teoscar Hernandez’s big days closed at 2-5 from the plate with a total of five RBI. Coming into today, the right fielder was only batting .088 in his ten games with the Bisons…Christian Lopes added to his tally of strong performances in this series. He’s batting 6-11 in the past three games.