STAFF REPORTS
After Anthony Kay held Toledo to just two runs in five innings – both coming in the fifth – the bullpen surrendered five runs of their own that gave the Mud Hens a 7-5 victory over the Herd, Tuesday night at Fifth Third Field.
Going into the eighth frame, Buffalo was holding a 5-3 lead. Ten batters, two hits, four walks and an error later, Toledo possessed the 7-5 lead that ultimately helped them win the game.
It was an inning to forget as just one of the two hits left the infield and two of the runs came in on bases load walks. Daz Cameron walked to untie the ballgame and Christin Stewart saw four balls himself that brought in Frank Schwindel for the seventh run, capping the four-run inning.
The Bisons walked seven times themselves and their offense stroked 12 hits compared to Toledo’s eight. Buffalo had four base hits and a walk in the first along with three walks in the second inning, but managed just the two runs in the first.
Big innings were in sight, but unfortunately just out of reach for the Herd. In the first, Richard Urena was thrown out trying to extend his first inning single into a double with two men already on base. Then with the bases loaded in the second, he hit a laser right at first baseman Frank Schwindel, who stepped on the bag to double off Billy McKinney to get Toledo starter Beau Burrows out of any other potential issues.
Buffalo opened the ballgame with three straight singles from Jonathan Davis, McKinney and Urena. Urena’s single plated Davis and McKinney later scored himself on a Patrick Kivlehan triple that hit off the top of the outfield wall.
The Bisons really made Burrows work in his two innings, forcing him to throw 60 pitches, with 35 being strikes. Six relievers out of the Toledo bullpen followed their starter and all but Bryan Garcia– the winning pitcher – yielded a hit and/or walk.
McKinney later gave the Herd a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning when he singled home Michael De La Cruz and later drove in Buffalo’s fourth run when he hit an RBI single that plated Davis.
In addition to the two runs batted in, McKinney reached base in all five plate appearances in the loss. The outfielder had three hits and two walks and extended his on-base streak to 16 games that dates back to June 12th. During the streak, McKinney is 22-56 with nine walks which is a .393 AVG and .477 on-base pct.
BISONS NOTES: Patrick Kivlehan had two hits and now has seven in 12 at-bats in his last three ballgames, good for a .583 AVG. Kivlehan has also driven in seven runs in that span… Fortunately, the BIsons didn’t lose any ground in the postseason race as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lost in extra-innings to the Charlotte Knights on Tuesday.
