I-Pigs 7, Bisons 1

The Bisons' bats were held silent Thursday afternoon at Coca-Cola Field as the Herd lost 7-1 to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

IronPigs' starter Antonio Bastardo (1-0) didn't look like a pitcher making only his second career

Triple-A start. The southpaw was not overpowering but was very effective. Bastardo threw 94 pitches over seven scoreless innings, scattering six hits, striking out one and walking only one.
The Bisons best offensive opportunity came in the seventh inning when the Herd had runners on first and second and two-out after a Jesus Feliciano single. But Jonathon Malo popped out to shortstop Miguel Cairo to end the inning.

A two-out, two-run homer over the left field wall by J.J. Furmaniak in the top of the second was all the offense the I-Pigs would need.

Lehigh Valley would add three more insurance runs in the seventh on a David Newhan two-RBI double and a Jeremy Slayden RBI single.

Buffalo avoided the shutout thanks to a Wily Mo Pena blast in the ninth. The right fielder drove the first pitch he saw over the fence for his second home run of the year.

Herd starter Nelson Figueroa pitched 6.2 innings allowing six runs on nine hits while striking out six I-Pigs.