Des Moines, IA – The Buffalo Bisons could not keep pace with the high powered Iowa Cubs offense on Tuesday night in their 9-1 defeat at Principal Park.
Buffalo raced out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to Joey Loperfido’s third home run of the season. The outfielder hit his solo home run to the opposite field in left off of I-Cubs starter Cade Horton. However, Horton would settle in to pitch six innings for his second win of the year. The Bisons one-run lead would hold up until the bottom of the second inning.
Ex-Bison Reese McGuire tied the game at one with a one out RBI base hit in the bottom of the second. It was one of three hits for the Cubs’ catcher against his former team on Tuesday. Iowa added two runs to take the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning. Owen Caissie’s RBI triple scored Moises Ballesteros starting off the inning, while Kevin Alcantara would score on a fielder’s choice later in the inning.
The ball was hit by Alcantara to Kevin Stefanic who eventually helped retire Caissie in a rundown, but the throw back to second by Josh Rivera hit Alcantara and went into left field, allowing him to score and extend Iowa’s lead to 3-1.
Iowa would add six more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 9-1 and cruise to the series opening victory. Kevin Gowdy and Tommy Nance each worked an inning of scoreless relief for the Bisons, helping to record the final six outs for the team. Gowdy leads the team with nine relief appearances to start the season.
The two teams are scheduled for a 1:08 p.m. EDT first pitch on Wednesday afternoon at Principal Park. Eric Lauer is slated to start for Buffalo in game two of the six-game series in Des Moines. The game can be heard on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy App, as well as bisons.com starting at 12:45 p.m. EDT with the ‘Voice of the Bisons’ Pat Malacaro for Countdown to Bisons Baseball.