The Bisons are kept from clinching the division with the loss to Rochester.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Northeast Division title will have to wait a little longer as the Buffalo Bisons fell to the Rochester Red Wings, 5-3, Thursday afternoon from Frontier Field. A pair of Rochester home runs provided the Thruway rival with enough offense to hand the Herd just its third loss in the month of September.
The Bisons entered the game with a magic number of one to claim the outright division title for the first time since 2005. The RailRiders play in Lehigh Valley on Thursday night and a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre loss also will clinch the division for Buffalo.
Rafael Bautista hit a three-run home run off Herd starter Nick Allgeyer in the second inning and Raudy Read lined a two-run homer in the fifth inning to snap a 3-3 tie. The two homers accounted for two of only five hits by the Red Wings in the game, but produced enough runs for the win.
Read led off the second with a single, but it appeared Allgeyer was going to get out of the inning after inducing a fly out and a pop out to the next two batters. But a 2-2 slider from the southpaw dipped too low and hit third baseman Ali Castillo on the back foot to extend the inning. That brought Bautista to the plate and the left fielder left no doubt with a 411-foot homer beyond the expanded left-centerfield wall at Frontier Field.
Buffalo was able to rally once, erasing the early 3-0 deficit with a run in the third and two more in the fourth. Otto Lopez singled home Forrest Wall for the first Herd run while Cullen Large’s hustle double and Nash Knight’s two-out single through the right side of the infield drove in the next two Bisons tallies.
With the game tied at three and a runner on base in the fifth inning, Read lined his home run into the Bisons bullpen in left field, just getting enough of the Allgeyer offering for his fourth home run of the season.
That was virtually the end of the offense for either team on Thursday as A.J. Cole, Kirby Snead and Kyle Johnston held the Red Wings hitless over the final three innings, while striking out four. On their part, three Red Wings relievers struck out eight Bisons batters and allowed just one hit to the Herd over the final four innings.
Allgeyer fell to 4-5 in the loss after allowing five runs on five hits in five innings of work. The victory went to Nationals’ prospect Cade Cavalli, who worked five innings for his first career Triple-A win.
If the RailRiders win in Lehigh Valley on Thursday night, the Herd’s next chance to clinch with be Friday night against the Red Wings at Frontier Field (6:05 p.m.).