STAFF REPORTS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — With the Blue Jays needing to play
two in Cleveland, the Bisons turned to a pair of young righties making
their Triple-A debuts to help shutout the Syracuse Chiefs, 3-0, on a
foggy Thursday night at Coca-Cola Field.
Twenty-six year old Conor Fisk and 24-year old Justin Dillon combined to strike out seven over six scoreless innings of relief to help the Herd snap its mini two-game slide.
Thursday’s scheduled Bisons starter Joe Biagini was summoned by the Blue Jays to start the second game of their twinbill against the Indians. Toronto also promoted Luis Santos and Tim Mayza
from the Herd’s pen to help get the big league club through a rainy day
in Cleveland…especially after their game one went 11 innings and
finished with a 13-11 Blue Jays win.
So the Bisons need a spot start from Taylor Guerrieri,
who was excellent in his own right. Limited to just three innings,
Guerrieri allowed just one base runner, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he
faced.
it was up to Fisk and Dillon. Fisk was the first out of the pen and
continued the excellent start of the season he’s had with New Hampshire.
He retired the first five batters he faced, including his first
Triple-A strikeout of former Bisons MVP, Matt Hague.
Two of the three hits he allowed in his 3.1 innings of work came in the
fifth inning, but he got out of that jam with a ground out from Michael Almanzar
After four seasons at Single-A or
rookie-ball, Fisk struck out 16 batters in 15.0 innings for the Fisher
Cats in his first taste of Double-A, prompting this promotion to the
Bisons.
With one out in the seventh, the Bisons went
to Dillon. The Blue Jays’ 10th round draft pick just last season, the
righty had the Chiefs hitters off balance all night. He struck out five
of the first six batters he faced, four of which were looking. He then
retired the Chiefs in order in the ninth for his first career
professional save.
The Bisons got the only run they would need three batters into the game. Dalton Pompey led off the first with a double and moved to second when Tim Lopes struck out but reached on a wild pitch. Danny Jansen rolled one through the center of the diamond and into center to cash in Pompey from third.
In the fourth, Darnell Sweeney
hit his third home run of the season to double the Bisons advantage.
Jansen then picked up some insurance in the eighth inning with a
sacrifice fly.
The Bisons and Chiefs square off again for a Honda fridaynightbash!. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
