Herd 4, Tides 1

Fernando Martinez has been the spark to the Bisons batting order this season and the young prospect came through for the Herd again on Friday night.

Martinez's RBI-single with two outs in the eighth snapped a 1-1 tie and sent the Bisons to their second consecutive victory. Michel Abreu added the insurance to reward Brandon Knight for another solid outing in a 4-1 decision over the Tides.

A 1-1 tie appeared destined to be decided in the ninth or extra innings. Buffalo had two outs and no one on base against Norfolk reliever Kam Mickolio. But Cory Sullivan and Argenis Reyes kept the Bisons at-bat alive with back-to-back walks.

Up came the hot hitting Martinez. Despite a passed ball moving the runners up, the Tides choose to go after the Herd outfielder. Martinez responded with a line drive to left that fell just in front of Nolan Reimold for an RBI-single and a 2-1 Buffalo lead.

On the very next pitch, Abreu doubled to deep right field to give the Bisons the 4-1 advantage.
Before the eight-inning explosion, Knight locked up in a wonderful pitcher's duel with Norfolk's Chris Waters. The Herd hurler worked a season-high eight innings, allowing just four singles and striking out three. He threw 70 of his 105 pitches for strikes, and kept the Tides hitters off-balance all night.

Knight retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced. After Justin Christian hit him for an RBI-single in the fifth inning, he picked Christian off first base before setting down nine of the final 10 batters of his outing.

Waters was equally impressive after a rough start to his night. Argenis Reyes tripled with one out in the first inning. He was quickly plated by Fernando Martinez, who doubled down the right field line to give Buffalo the early lead. Waters settled down after that, retiring the final 13 batters he faced