5/27/12

Mets 8, Yankees 7, Bisons style

Buffalo, NY - After trailing the Buffalo Bisons (28-21) heading to the fifth inning 6-0 on Saturday afternoon, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (25-22) battled back with five in the fifth and two in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. The Yankees could not complete what would have been their biggest come back of the season as Buffalo came from behind picking up two in the eighth inning for a come from behind 8-7 win.

The Bisons got to SWB starter D.J. Mitchell early scoring in each of their first three at bats. Buffalo scored five of their six runs against Mitchell on two out hits. Valentino Pascucci's two out RBI double in the first inning gave the Bisons a 1-0 lead. Buffalo added four runs in the second inning, the first coming on Omar Quintanilla's double to left scoring Dustin Martin who walked with two outs in the inning. Following the second walk of the day to Bisons centerfielder Corey Wimberley, Fred Lewis hit a three run homer to right center to push the lead to 5-0. Buffalo's sixth run off Mitchell came in the third on a one out single from Matt Tuiasosopo, scoring Pascucci and the Bisons lead was 6-0. It was the second consecutive start that Mitchell allowed six runs.

Garrett Olson kept the Yankees at bay for the first four innings of the afternoon before running into trouble in the fifth. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored five runs in the fifth, matching a season high with six hits off Olson to close to within one run at 6-5. Gustavo Molina led off the inning with his first homer of the season to get the Yankees on the board. With one down and Ramiro Pena at first base following a single, Matt Antonelli hit the second SWB homer of the inning with a two run shot over the wall in left. His first long ball with the Yankees moved the Yankees to within 6-3. Two batters later with Steve Pearce on first base, Jack Cust hit his second homer of the series and first of two on the day to pull the Yankees to within 6-5.

Olson was done after five innings allowing 10 hits and five earned runs with no walks and five strikeouts. After a scoreless sixth inning from Elvin Ramirez, the Bisons went to the bullpen for the second time on the game bringing in left hander Justin Hampson (WP, 3-1). Cust's first at bat facing Hampson resulted in his second homer of the afternoon. The solo homer for the Yankees DH flew over the wall in left and tied the game at 6-6. Thanks to some shaky Bisons defense, SWB would have the lead before the inning was over. With two outs in the seventh, Dustin Martin dropped Brandon Laird's fly ball to right for a two base error. Laird would score on Cole Garner's second hit of the day, an RBI single to center and the Yankees came all the back from 6-0 down to lead 7-6.

The lead was short lived as the Yankees bullpen blew just its second save of the year allowing two runs in the top of the eighth giving Buffalo the lead back at 8-7. Manny Delcarmen (LP, 1-2) took over to begin the inning replacing Justin Thomas, who pitched a scoreless seventh taking over for Mitchell who was lifted after the sixth. Delcarmen allowed the first two batters to reach on a single and a walk. Tuiasosopo moved Josh Satin to third and Pascucci to second with a sacrifice bunt. With second and third and one down, Jordany Valdespin tied the game at 7-7 with an RBI single to left field. With Pascucci at third and Valdespin at first, Valdespin broke for second and got in a run down on the base paths staying alive in the run down long enough for Pascucci to score the eventual winning run.

The Yankees put the first two runners on in the ninth inning against Fernando Cabrera (SV, 10) before the right hander got out of the mess with a strikeout of Cust, a foul pop from Ronnier Mustelier and a strikeout of Laird to end the game.

The Yankees and Bisons wrap up the four game series at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon with a 1:05 PM first pitch. Right hander Ramon Ortiz (2-3, 3.86) gets the start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, while righty Chris Schwinden (3-3, 2.72) gets the start for Buffalo.

from team press release

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