Bisons silence Mud Hens’ bats twice
Niese, Figueroa get shutouts as Herd sweeps
Jonathon Niese may just have punched his ticket straight to the big leagues Saturday night at Coca-Cola Field.
The New York Mets’ prize left-hand pitching prospect won his fifth straight decision, throwing a two-hit shutout at the Toledo Mud Hens, 1-0, in seven innings in the first game of a doubleheader before a crowd announced as 8,485 paid.
The strong pitching continued in the second game as veteran right-hander Nelson Figueroa of the Bisons shut out the Mud Hens, 2-0, allowing seven hits.
Mike Lamb doubled twice for the Herd, driving in the first Buffalo run in the second inning and scoring the other in the fifth.
Niese could be the pitching spark the struggling Mets need to keep from falling out of contention in the NL East pennant race. He was 1-1 in three starts with New York last season and certainly has to be in the sights of the parent club.
The possibility of Niese getting a promotion to Citi Field has been speculated in the New York media the last two weeks.
“It’s all out of my hands,” Niese said of any possibility of an imminent promotion. “I just concentrate on each outing, try to do my best and hope it’s good enough to get to the next level.”
“I haven’t heard anything,“ said Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell, who admitted that Niese’s performances most certainly are getting noticed by the Mets and other major league teams.
Saturday night, Niese needed just 87 pitches, 56 strikes, to dispose of the Mud Hens in a brisk 1 hour, 24 minutes. Even though he had only two strikeouts, Niese was dominating. The two hits against him were singles. The Mud Hens hit only three other balls to the outfield.
The 22-year-old lefty had the Mud Hens beating the ball into the ground all game. Fifteen of the 21 outs recorded by Niese came on ground balls. He allowed only one hard-hit ball — a line drive out to right field by No. 9 hitter Dane Sardinha in the sixth inning.
Toledo was hitless until Brent Dlugach opened the fifth inning with a broken-bat single on a ground ball just out of the reach of Buffalo shorstop Javier Castillo. The other hit came in the ninth, when Don Kelly dropped a soft single to left with one out. Niese got Dlugach to hit into a force play for the second out. The Bisons nearly had a game-ending double play, but first baseman Nick Evans was unable to dig out the relay from second baseman Argenis Reyes.
Niese started the season with six straight losses as his ERA soared to 7.36. Since then he has won five straight. His ERA in his last seven starts is a measly 0.72.
“It feels good to be on this roll after what I went through the first two months,” said Niese, who credited the effectiveness of his two-seam fast ball for all the groundouts.
The Buffalo run against losing pitcher Chris Lambert came in the fourth inning. Evans drove in the run with a single, only his eighth RBI in 26 games with Buffalo.
Figueroa (6-4) said he didn’t have his best stuff but succeeded by not walking a batter and “pounding the zone with strikes to get some quick outs.”
The 35-year-old pitched out of two situations where he had a runner at third with one out.
Ken Takahashi (0-1, 0.90 ERA) is the scheduled starter for Buffalo in the series finale today (1:05 p. m., SNY, TWC 13; Radio 930 AM, 1520 AM) against Eddie Bonine (1-4, 4.99).
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