The Buffalo Bisons drove in six runs on five hits in the top of the eighth inning, propelling them to a 12-0 shutout victory over the Worcester Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon at Polar Park.
Josh Fleming threw seven shutout innings in the win for Buffalo. Fleming allowed just two hits while striking out five batters.
Carlos Mendoza also recorded an RBI double, single and a three-run homer in the victory in five at-bats.
The Bisons walked a season-high 14 times in the victory. Four of those walks came from Davis Schneider.
After six scoreless innings, the Bisons broke the 0-0 tie in the top of the seventh. Josh Rivera drove a single to right field, scoring both Schneider and Je’Von Ward. Mendoza added to the lead with an RBI double into centerfield, giving Buffalo a 3-0 lead.
Buffalo added insurance to their lead in the top of the eighth inning. With the bases loaded, a four-pitch walk to Rafael Lantigua scored Riley Tirotta. William Simoneit went on to hit a sac-fly to right field, driving in Davis Schneider to give the Bisons a 5-0 advantage. On a 1-2 count, Rivera then drove an RBI single to shortstop Vinny Capra to add another run to Buffalo’s lead.
The scoring didn’t stop there for the Bisons in the eighth. Mendoza proceeded to drill an RBI single to second baseman Tsung-Che Chung to make it a 7-0 game. Right after Mendoza’s single, Josh Kasevich smoked a single to right field, driving in Ryan McCarty from third base. Then, with the bases loaded, a four-pitch walk to Schneider scored Mendoza to put the Red Sox at a 9-0 deficit.
To add insult to injury, the Bisons crossed the double-digit run mark in the top of the ninth inning. Mendoza crushed a three-run homer over the right-field wall to give Buffalo a 12-0 lead.
Buffalo and Worcester are scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. pitch on Thursday at Polar Park for game three of the series. The series is tied 1-1. Pregame coverage on The Bet 1520 AM, the Audacy app, and Bisons.com begins broadcast coverage at 5:45 p.m.