The Buffalo Bisons were stifled in both ends of their doubleheader against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley won game one 4-1 and took game two 4-2 for the sweep.
The Bisons were able to score first in the top of the first inning against Mick Abel. Davis Schneider was able to hit a leadoff single against the Lehigh Valley starter and scored later in the first inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Orelvis Martinez.
However, the IronPigs struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and did not trail the remainder of game one. Justin Crawford scored on a Christian Arroyo sacrifice fly to tie the score 1-1. That was followed by a Gabriel Rincones RBI groundout that scored Otto Kemp for a 2-1 Lehigh Valley advantage.
Crawford added a two-run RBI double in the bottom of the second inning that extended the IronPigs’ lead to 4-1. All four runs came against Bisons’ starter Adam Kloffenstein. However, the right-hander would last four and two-third innings in his second start for Buffalo. Kloffenstein recorded three strikeouts before being removed from the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ryan Jennings and Jimmy Burnette combined to get the last four outs for the Bisons to give the offense a chance.
Will Robertson and Rainer Nunez had the other two hits for the Bisons in game one’s loss. Schneider reached base three times, scoring the team’s lone run in the first game of the twin bill. He walked twice in addition to his leadoff single to start the game.
Kyle Tyler kept the Buffalo offense at bay for the first five innings of the night cap, retiring the first 15 batters he faced in order. That allowed the IronPigs to score four runs in the bottom of the second inning for a 4-0 advantage. Crawford and Kemp had back-to-back two-run base hits against Andrew Bash to help secure the victory. All four runs against the Bisons right-hander were unearned thanks to an error to begin the inning.
However, Phil Clarke broke up the perfect game bid for Tyler when he drew a walk to being the top of the sixth inning. Ryan McCarty was hit by a pitch as well, allowing Josh Rivera to collect a two-run double for the first Bisons hit of the game that trimmed the deficit to 4-2. But that is as close as Buffalo would get.
Tommy Nance pitched the final two innings out of the Bisons bullpen and struck out the first five batters he faced. His two innings of scoreless relief allowed Buffalo to move the game-tying run into scoring position in the top of the seventh inning, but they could not get the hit that would tie the game.
The series concludes on Sunday evening at Coca-Cola Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., you can hear all of the action with the ‘Voice of the Bisons’ Pat Malacaro and Dave Popkin. Pregame coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy App, and Bisons.com.
