ROCHESTER — The Buffalo Bisons were defeated for the second time in three games by the Rochester Red Wings on Thursday night at Innovative Field. Despite having a massive 13-6 advantage in the hits column, Buffalo lost 7-4.
The Bisons would draw first blood in the top of the third. After the first batter of the inning was retired, the Bisons would record three straight hits: Davis Schneider’s second single of the game, a single by Jordan Luplow and a two-RBI double by Addison Barger, his 7th double of the season that also produced his 11th and 12th RBIs of the year. After a one-batter hiatus, Buffalo got right back to scoring thanks to an RBI single by Rafael Lantigua to drive in Barger. They would record five hits in the inning, upping their total for the game at this point to eight.
The 3-0 lead the Bisons held at this point felt a lot bigger thanks to the performance of their bullpen. Hagen Danner was the starter for Buffalo and did a tremendous job, retiring all seven batters he faced and only throwing 31 pitches in the process. From there he gave way to Hayden Juenger, who recorded two outs with no damage done. After Juenger exited, Zach Pop would pitch a clean one inning by inducing three consecutive groundouts. The bullpen would struggle mightily after Pop exited.
Canisius alum Ryan Boyer made his Bisons debut after being promoted from the Vancouver Canadians today. He would pitch a clean bottom of the fifth by getting a double play and a flyout to work around his two straight walks. Unfortunately, he would struggle In the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with no outs by hitting a batter and walking the next two before Travis Blankenhorn hit a grand slam to suddenly put the Red Wings in front 4-3.
The Bisons would respond to Rochester’s big inning right away. Buffalo got runners on first and second with one out thanks to Luplow getting hit by a pitch and Barger drawing a walk. After a fielder’s choice, Lantigua drove in Luplow with his second RBI single of the game to knot it at four.
Buffalo’s kryptonite on Thursday seemed to be Blankenhorn. Just one inning after his go-ahead grand slam, he would provide the tie-breaking run once again. After the first two batters were retired, an infield single and stolen base by Jake Alu followed by a walk to Jeter Downs provided the Red Wings an opportunity with runners on first and second. Blankenhorn would not disappoint, driving in Alu with his 17th double of the season to put Rochester back in front 5-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, a two-run home run by Erick Mejia provided some cushion for Rochester. Despite the Bisons loading the bases in the top of the ninth, they couldn’t get any runs across. Gerson Moreno recorded his fifth save of the season to preserve the win for the Red Wings.
The teams will meet back at Innovative Field for the fourth game of this six-game series on Friday night. The Bisons will send Wes Parsons (1-2, 4.42) to the mound while Rochester will counter with Wily Peralta (2-6, 6.58). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET.
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