The Bisons and Clippers split a twinbill, Sunday afternoon from Sahlen Field, with the Herd winning 6-3 in game one before falling in extras, 6-4, in game two. The clubs also split their six-game series in downtown Buffalo with each club winning three times.
Buffalo picked up the victory in game one, thanks in large part to a five-run second inning. The Herd loaded the bases on a pair of singles from Josh Rivera and JeVon Ward and a walk to Carlos Mendoza. The red-hot Josh Kasevich then came through when he ripped an opposite-field single 102 mph to give Buffalo the 2-1 lead.
Kasevich is now riding a six-game hit streak since April 21, collecting hits in each game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
R.J. Schreck then cashed in Mendoza and Kasevich with a three-run home run into the Bully Hill Party Deck in right. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat against Clippers starter Pedro Avila, Schreck turned around a 94 mph fastball with a towering blast that just kept carrying and carrying.
Buffalo added a sixth run in sixth inning as Riley Tirotta hit an opposite-field homer just over the 325-Buffalo in the right field corner. For Tirotta, the home run was his fourth of the season.
Brendon Little earned the win in relief in game one, improving to 4-0 on the year. The southpaw delivered his eighth straight scoreless appearance with the Herd. He picked up a strikeout and benefited from a line drive doubleplay turned by Rivera and Kasevich.
Tanner Andrews earned the save in game one with a scoreless seventh inning, his first with the Bisons.
Buffalo struck first in game two as Charles McAdoo hit a monster home run two-thirds of the way up the protective netting in left-centerfield. McAdoo’s team-leading fifth home run of the year went an estimated 422 feet, leaving his bat at 104.7 mph.
But the Herd trailed most of game two after the Clipper scored three in the third on three consecutive run-scoring hits from Nolan Jones, Kody Huff and Dom Nunez. A 3-1 deficit was 4-2 in the sixth when Buffalo tied the game on a two-run blast from Rivera into the Herd’s bullpen in right-center.
In extras, the Clippers got two runs in the top half of their eighth inning. After Herd reliver Devereaux Harrison retired the first two batters in the frame, Juan Benjamin jumped on a 2-0 pitch and drove it out to center for second home run of the season.
C.J. Van Eyk started game two for the Herd and allowed three runs (two earned) in 4.2 innings of work. He struck out four and walked two.
The Bisons will now head to the road for 12 straight games in Pennsylvania, starting with a six-game series in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before heading down the road to Lehigh Valley. The Herd returns to Buffalo for a six-game series against Worcester on May 12.