SYRACUSE — After winning the first two games of their series with the Syracuse Mets, the Buffalo Bisons hit a bump in the road with a 8-6 setback on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium. Despite the strong start and timely offense, the Herd simply couldn’t overcome one rough inning defensively.
Buffalo got off to a fast start with two home runs in the first three batters of the game. Addison Barger hit his fourth home run of the season to lead things off which was followed by Spencer Horwitz’s fifth home run of the season to instantly provide the Bisons with a 2-0 lead
Despite not doing much during the next several innings, Buffalo’s lead felt pretty safe at the time due to a strong start from Bowden Francis. Francis provided 3.1 innings of one-run ball along with six strikeouts. His only allowed run came on a home run by Ronny Mauricio in the bottom of the fourth, his 15th of the season.
The Bisons responded to Mauricio’s home run right away in the top of the fifth with Horwitz’s second home run of the game and sixth of the season to restore their two-run advantage. This would mark the first multi-homer game of Horwitz’s career.
Unfortunately for Horwitz and the Bisons, that lead would quickly be erased in the bottom of the fifth. After a strong bottom of the fourth for Hayden Juenger in which he recorded a strikeout and pickoff, he really struggled in the bottom of the fifth. After walking two batters and hitting another, he allowed a game-tying, two-RBI single to Michael Perez.
The struggles then continued after Juenger was pulled for Paul Fry. A Danny Mendick RBI single gave Syracuse their first lead of the series before Luke Voit’s seventh double of the season drove in another run to extend the lead. Rafael Ortega would also draw a bases loaded walk to drive in another run. By the time all was said and done, 10 Mets batters came to the plate and five runs were scored, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
That score would hold until Buffalo was able to pull off a three-run ninth inning to tie the game. They started the inning with three consecutive singles, one by Tanner Morris, one by Barger and one by Ernie Clement. Horwitz then drew a walk on four pitches before Davis Schneider drew his fourth walk of the game to cut the deficit to one. Following a pitching change, L.J. Talley tied the game at six despite grounding into a double play.
Unfortunately, the Bisons rally turned out to be for nothing as Abraham Almonte drew his second walk of the game with two outs before Ortega provided the game-winning two-run home run, his fourth of the season.
The two teams will meet back at NBT Bank Stadium on Friday night for game four of their six-game series. LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-0, 1.80) will take the mound for the Bisons in his second Major League Injury Rehab appearance for the team. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET.
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