Bisons offense erupts for 11-6 win over Iowa

BUFFALO, NY-- The Buffalo Bisons used an offensive outburst to defeat the Iowa Cubs by a score of 11-6 on Sunday at Sahlen Field.

Iowa jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a pair of Matt Mervis singles brought three Cubs around to score in the first two innings. From there, the Herd would go to work.

Buffalo’s answer started in the bottom of the second inning, when an Ernie Clement double brought Rob Brantly around to score and cut the Iowa lead to 3-1. After L.J. Talley reached base, Davis Schneider would step to the plate and bring home Clement and Talley with a double of his own to tie up the game at 3-3.

The bottom of the third inning would see Rafael Lantigua reach base via a walk and set up Spencer Horwitz to hit his first home run of the season off Rowan Wick to give Buffalo a 5-3 lead.

Buffalo would load the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning after Rafael Lantigua, Jordan Luplow and Wynton Bernard reached base, setting the stage for an Ernie Clement RBI-walk to give the Herd a 6-3 lead. After Clement’s walk brought home a run, L.J. Talley would draw a walk of his own to score Jordan Luplow and extend the lead to 7-3.

Rafael Lantigua got in on the action, collecting his first home run of the season with a solo shot off of Cam Sanders to grow Buffalo’s lead to 8-3. A Brennen Davis RBI-single would chip away at Buffalo’s lead, putting the Cubs within striking distance in the top of the seventh inning.

Buffalo would extinguish hope of a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three more insurance runs. Buffalo would walk in two more runs after strong plate discipline from Addison Barger and Rafael Lantigua to make the lead 10-4, before Spencer Horwitz added another RBI to his total by bringing Davis Schneider around to score the final Buffalo run that made it 11-4 in favor of the Herd.

Iowa would score two runs in the ninth inning and load the bases for more, before Junior Fernandez extinguished the rally by getting Jake Washer to ground into the game ending double-play.

Buffalo has the day off on Monday before hitting the road for two consecutive series, starting with the Gwinnett Stripers. After a week in Georgia, Buffalo will stay on the road to begin May with a trip to Massachusetts to take on the Worcester Red Sox in the second meeting between the two clubs this season.