Bisons stagger to finish line
Yankees hand Herd another defeat
The fans nearly filled Dunn Tire Park on Fan Appreciation Night and they saw the story of the Buffalo Bisons’ season Wednesday, whether it was their first trip to the ballpark all year or their 50th.
Solid pitching, no clutch hitting. A broken record all summer.
That was the scenario again in a 3-2 loss to the Scranton/Wilkes- Barre Yankees played before a crowd of 17,105 — the second-largest of the season.
Starter Bryan Bullington put up seven solid innings but the top six men in the Buffalo order went just 4 for 24. Buffalo’s Chris Gimenez was nailed between third and home on a rundown in the ninth and the game ended on a strikeout
from Trevor Crowe, leaving runners at second and third.
“That’s exactly how this year has gone,” said manager Torey Lovullo. “We put ourselves in good situations and can’t get a big two-out hit. We can’t seem to get things rolling offensively.”
The home schedule concludes at 1: 05 today (Radio 1520 AM) in what’s expected to be Buffalo’s final home game as a Cleveland Indians affiliate after 14 seasons.
“Honestly, it’s come so fast,” said outfielder Brad Snyder, who finished a home run shy of the cycle and scored both Buffalo runs. “I can’t believe [today] is the last home game and it could be forever [for the Indians]. It’s a really weird feeling. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Not many teams that are fifth in their division and 12 games below .500 are third in their league in pitching. But that’s the Bisons’ situation, as their team earned-run average of 3.80 is third in the International League.
But they are batting just .249 as a team and likely to break the franchise record-low of .256 set in 1988.
The Bisons have dropped five straight, including the first four in this two-city series against the Yankees. Scranton cut its magic number to win the IL North to two as New York Yankees megaprospect Phil Hughes went 6x innings for his first decision in five Triple-A starts and got solo home runs from Ben Broussard and Nick Green.
The outcome at least was a better showing by the Herd, which was feeble in a 9-1 loss Tuesday.
“It’s something we addressed before the game today — finishing out the season strong, being a true Cleveland Indian and having pride in doing it right,” Lovullo said. “The guys went out and played hard.”
The Bisons had a good chance to tie it or perhaps win it in the ninth as they had runners at the corners with one out. Gimenez was nailed between third and home after Jason Cooper’s looper cleared the mound but was corraled by first baseman Juan Miranda.
Jorge Velandia went first-tothird on the rundown and Cooper made it all the way to second. That set up Crowe with runners at second and third but he struck out on a 2-2 pitch from Scranton closer Mark Melancon. Crowe went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts.
Cooper drove in Snyder both times, on a single in the second and a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Snyder needed a home run in the ninth to become first Bison ever to hit for the cycle in a regular-season game downtown but struck out.
“It crossed my mind,” Snyder admitted. “When I was in the outfield, I kind of realized it in the eighth. That would be kind of cool and you visualize maybe walking off [with a home run]. I got that in my head a little too much in my at-bat.”
Nearly 31,000 tickets have been sold the last two nights and most were used. In a season going nowhere, with a longtime affiliation about to end, that was noticed in the Buffalo clubhouse.
“It was pretty cool,” Snyder said. “It gives you energy feeding off the fans. Seeing that many people juices you up. Some guys are tired but it definitely gives you a lift. We had 17,000? That was unbelievable.”
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Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez went 1 for 4 with a first-inning double and is expected to rejoin the Indians from his rehab assignment with the Bisons on Friday. Designated hitter Travis Hafner sat out his third straight game with shoulder soreness but is scheduled to play today.
