Buffalo 4, Norfolk 3

Photo by Mack Ade

The Bisons completed their first four-game sweep since August 2010, closing out the Norfolk Tides 4-3 behind southpaw starter Mark Cohoon Monday night at Coca Cola Field.



In his second win and first quality start, Cohoon left the game after a season-high six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.


Cohoon credited his strong outing to balance and pitch location.



"Today, I finally had the ball down in the zone," Cohoon said. "I've been struggling with it the whole time, struggling with my balance. Ricky (Bones) has been doing real well getting me balanced out with all of my mechanics and everything. Today I felt good having my fastball down and away and a good changeup."



The four-game sweep also equals a season-long win streak.



For the second consecutive game, the Bisons (34-45) scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Jason Botts' single scored two with the bases loaded before Luis Hernandez added a third on his single.



The Tides quickly answered with a two-run Brendan Harris home run in the second.



"After that, he really became stingy," Manager Tim Teufel said of Cohoon.



Buffalo loaded the bases again in the second, when Nick Evans picked up an RBI on a groundout to score Bubba Bell, pushing the lead to 4-2.

"When you score four runs in the first two innings, you can just relax a little bit more, make some pitches and get comfortable and Cohoon did that and took us as far as he can go," Teufel said.



Evans extended his Triple-A hitting streak to 17 games, passing Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Michael Fisher for the longest of any Bison on the year.



Norfolk again cut the lead to one when Brandon Snyder drove in John Hester, who walked, from first with a double.

Buffalo twice ended innings with runners out at the plate, as Norfolk threw out Botts in the first and Valentino Pascucci in the fifth.

Norfolk starter Rick VandenHurk took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits, also with four strikeouts and two walks.



Reliever Josh Rupe held the Herd to the one-run lead with perfect seventh and eighth innings, including two strikeouts, but Ryota Igarashi shut the door with a four-out save