By: Brayden Peters
BUFFALO, N.Y. - It was raining runs instead of pennies from heaven at Sahlen Field on Italian Festival Night. The Buffalo Bisons squeaked by the Syracuse Mets in extra innings 7-6, as Riley Tirotta and Rafael Lantigua led the way on offense in the victory for Buffalo. Tirotta ended the day going 1-for-4 at the plate, recording three RBI, a home run, a walk and a strikeout. As for Lantigua, he finished his night going 1-for-5 at the plate, recording a hit, two RBI, three runs and a strikeout. Both players were key in an offensive resurgence in the fifth inning.
"It's nice to string together some hits," Bisons right fielder Alan Roden said. "So, you know, got a couple of guys on, Lancy (Lantigua) with a great swing to get it to an RBI single there and then Riley with the big three-run homer. That was huge and it put us up."
Blue Jays 2010 supplemental first-round pick Aaron Sanchez got the start at pitcher for Buffalo and it was nothing to write home about. In five innings, he gave up five hits, four runs and recorded three walks while striking out four batters.
Pitcher Yerry Rodriguez made his appearance in the ninth inning and he threw two strikeouts, including a walk while surrendering a hit in one inning. Hayden Juenger replaced Rodriguez in the tenth and in one inning pitched, Juenger didn't give up a single hit or run while recording no strikeouts or walks. He was also credited with the win tonight as his record improved to 3-2.
Buffalo has already gotten used to playing games that involve extra innings. In their last four games, three of them have gone into extra innings. The other two were against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders last week on Friday and Saturday. Buffalo won on Friday 1-0 and fell on Saturday 8-3.
"We've been in a couple this year," Bisons left fielder Will Robertson said. "Some of them haven't gone our way, but I think, you know, kudos to Hayden Juenger for getting that top of the tenth inning, to get in and kind of navigate through that with a runner on second base."
The Bisons drew first blood early in the game. In the first inning, Will Robertson drove in Lantigua on a ground out to first base. Lantigua got on base after a fielding error was given to Mets shortstop Pablo Reyes.
Just before the Bisons can go on offense in the third inning with two outs, Met Brett Baty crushed the ball out towards center field for a two-run dinger. With the home run, Syracuse snatched the Bisons' lead and were up 2-1.
The Mets were able to add insurance to their lead in the third. With the bases loaded, Luke Ritter made it safely to home plate on a wild pitch thrown by Sanchez.
The runs began to stack up more for Syracuse. In the fifth inning, Baty scored on a catching error to first base that was given to first baseman Riley Tirotta. Baty got on base after recording a double.
Buffalo were able to break the Mets' unanswered run streak in the fifth and take the lead. With the bases juiced, Rafael Lantigua singled to drive in Luis De Los Santos and Roden to cut the Mets' lead to 4-3. De Los Santos and Roden both got on base from singles.
Then, Tirotta hit a three-run homer to allow the Bisons to take a 6-4 lead. It was his tenth home run on the season and it extended his hitting streak to three games, the highest on the team currently.
"I think once we got (Blade) Tidwell out of the game, I think obviously it spoke for itself," Robertson said. "Guys, you know, I think bear down and start taking some good at bats and we push through and broke the door down."
Syracuse refused to let the fifth inning deter them. Baty's bat stayed hot, as he hit a homer out towards left field in the seventh inning for his second home run of the game. The run cut the Bisons already slim lead to just one run.
The Mets then caught up to Buffalo in the eighth inning. Logan Porter homered out towards left field to tie the game 6-6.
No one could snap the tie, so the game was forced to go into extra innings. The Bisons were the ones that came out on top. Damiano Palmegiani batted in Lantigua, who was the pinch runner, to allow Buffalo to take the 7-6 win. Luisangel Acuña grounded Palmegiani out at first base, but there was only one out and Acuña could've tried to get Lantigua out at home plate.
"I mean, it feels good to get a win," Roden said. "You know, team's playing really hard, you know, scraping together whatever to keep the game going and try to get wins and it felt really good to get one today."
The Bisons move up to a 44-52 overall record and a 7-15 second half record. Also, they are still in last place in the IL East and are 1-0 in the series against Syracuse. The Mets drop to a 60-36 overall record and a 14-8 second half record. They are in third place in the IL East.
Buffalo will try to improve their series record to 2-0 when they host the Mets on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. Bowden Francis (2-1, 1.26) will get the start on the mound for the Bisons while Mark Vasil (4-4, 6.11) will start for the Mets. It will be "Good Neighbors Wednesday" for the theme of the game.
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