BASEBALL
Hot Lamb can’t save Herd
GWINNETT, Ga. — Veteran third baseman Mike Lamb continued his torrid hitting, but not much else went right for the Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday night in a 7-3 loss to the Gwinnett Braves before 4,752 at Gwinnett Stadium.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Herd (24-45) after a season-long four-game winning streak.
Lamb, a 33-year-old former big leaguer, doubled home a pair of runs for the Herd in the first inning and was 2 for 4 for the night as he extended his hit streak to 11 games. Lamb is batting .415 (17 for 41) since June 8 with three doubles, a triple, seven RBIs and five runs scored. Box score
The Bisons collected 13 hits, but lacked clutch hitting. They had hits in eight of the nine innings and had runners on base every inning, but stranded nine. The Herd also hit into two double plays. Gwinnett pitchers had only five strikeouts. Four times Bisons right fielder Emil Brown went down swinging.
“I guess if you give a good team extra outs they’ll beat you,” said Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell. “You can sit there and say we got 13 hits, but we didn’t hit in the clutch in key situations and they took advantage of our mistakes and good teams do that.”
Tobi Stoner (1-1), making his second Triple-A start, didn’t make it out of the third inning, when the Braves scored three times for a 4-2 lead. Stoner gave up three hits and three walks in the frame before Ken Takahashi came on in relief and struck out Todd Redmond for the final out.
“I just couldn’t locate,” Stoner said. “The mound was a little steeper than what I’m used to and I just didn’t compensate for that. [I was] drifting just a little bit maybe, just falling off the mound.”
The teams will meet again tonight (7
p. m., Radio 1520 AM) with Jonathon Niese (2-6, 5.55 ERA) due to start for the Bisons against a mound opponent yet to be named. The series will wind up Friday with Nelson Figueroa (2-4, 2.70) scheduled to face the Braves’ John Halama (0-0, 1.69), who pitched for the Bisons last season.
Buffalo will open four-game home series against the Charlotte Knights on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Field.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments