Buffalo, N.Y. – In the series finale between the Buffalo Bisons and Lehigh Valley IronPigs, a three-run homer for Josh Rivera, some clutch pitching from Trenton Wallace and Andrew Bash and a walk-off single from Will Robertson gave the Herd a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Sahlen Field.
This game got off to a slow start as starting pitchers Adam Kloffenstein and Nabil Crismatt faced the minimum through the first two and a half innings, aided by a double play that Crismatt induced for Lehigh Valley and a frame-ending pickoff by Kloffenstein in the second for Buffalo.
Lehigh Valley got the scoring started in the fourth with Cal Stevenson. He walked to begin the inning, advanced to second on a ground ball and stole third. With two outs, he scored the game’s first run on a Gabriel Rincones Jr. ground-ball single that snuck under the glove of a sliding Orelvis Martinez at second base.
The IronPigs manufactured another run in the top of the fifth. With one out, Nick Dunn hit a hot shot that snuck past Rivera at shortstop for a double, then Erick Brito followed with a bullet of an RBI triple off the wall in center field.
The Bisons took a swing-early approach against Crismatt, with 15 of their 24 at-bats against Crismatt going three pitches or fewer. It took until the bottom of the fifth for that approach to pay dividends, when the Bisons had a two-out rally. Ali Sánchez and Christian Bethancourt swung early in the count for singles, then Rivera used that approach, sending a ball over the wall in left-center for a three-run homer and a 3-2 Bisons lead, their first of the game.
Rivera’s go-ahead home run was his third of the season. He then flashed the leather in the top of the sixth, snagging a Keaton Anthony line drive and doubling off Weston Wilson at first base.
Meanwhile, Kloffenstein earned his first quality start with the Herd. He threw six innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six batters, tying a season high at Triple-A.
Yimi Garcia came on for a rehab appearance in the seventh in his recovery from a shoulder injury. He retired the first two he faced, but after allowing back-to-back baserunners, Kevin Gowdy came in and slammed the door on the Lehigh Valley scoring threat.
In the top of the eighth, Yohendrick Piñango had a key outfield assist to prevent Stevenson from going first to third on an Anthony single, but the Bisons still faced trouble. Hayden Juenger issued back-to-back two-out walks, loading the bases.
Ryan Jennings entered to face Rafael Lantigua, who chopped one slowly up the third-base line that Jennings couldn’t get to first in time. That tied the game at 3, but during the next at-bat, a snap throw by Sánchez to third caught Rincones far off the bag, ending the frame.
Jennings stayed in the game for the ninth, but a throwing error of his in on a sac bunt in between two walks loaded the bases with no one out. Wallace then came in and brought momentum to Buffalo. He got a force out at the plate, a strikeout and a lineout on three straight batters to keep the game tied. Buffalo went down 1-2-3 to Seth Johnson in the bottom, taking the game to extras.
Wallace stayed in the game in the 10th to strike out Rincones, then Bash came in to retire the next two to give Buffalo a chance to walk it off, but after a sac bunt by Bethancourt, a couple of groundouts couldn’t get ghost runner Leo Jiménez home.
Bash had a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout in the 11th to keep the game tied, then in the bottom, ghost runner Michael Stefanic advanced to third on a wild pitch from Michael Mercado. Finally, with two outs, Robertson chopped one up the middle that got through into center field for a walk-off single, giving the Bisons a 4-3 win.
The Bisons will be off on Monday before beginning a six-game home-and-home series against the Rochester Red Wings. The two teams will start the series at Sahlen Field in Buffalo on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. Buffalo has yet to announce a starting pitcher for the series opener. You can listen to the action on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy app, and Bisons.com starting at 6:15 p.m. with Pat Malacaro and Duke McGuire.
