BUFFALO, NY – The Buffalo Bisons were unable to complete the comeback against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Thursday afternoon at Sahlen Field, losing 9-4.
Je’Von Ward hit his fourth home run of the season in a four run sixth inning for Buffalo. An exciting afternoon for kids’ day saw a crowd of over 13,590.
Lehigh Valley had a hot bat combined with two errors from the Buffalo defense to score big in the top of the second inning. Paul McIntosh got it started with an RBI single to score Christian Cairo. Robert Moore followed with an RBI double to score Dylan Moore. Dylan Carlson hit an RBI single on a sharp ground ball to score McIntosh. Felix Reyes kept his hot streak rolling with an RBI double to score Moore. And Bryan De La Cruz closed the scoring with an RBI double to score Carlson and Reyes to make it 6-0 IronPigs.
In the top of the sixth, Lehigh Valley extended their lead to 8-0 behind a McIntosh two run home run that scored Dylan Moore.
Despite giving up some early runs, Bisons pitcher Josh Flemming recorded seven strikeouts in five and one-third innings.
The Bisons cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth inning. Willie MacIver hit a two run RBI triple to score Davis Schneider and Josh Kasevich. This was the second triple of the season for the catcher MacIver. Ward followed by hitting his fourth home run of the season to score MacIver from third and make it an 8-4 ballgame.
Lehigh Valley added some cushion to their lead in the top of the eighth inning with a broken bat RBI single by Carlson to score Carter Kieboom from third. This extended their lead to 9-4.
The Bisons and the IronPigs are scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch on Friday for game four of this series. Lehigh Valley leads the series 2-1. Pregame coverage on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy app, and Bisons.com begin at 5:45 p.m.