Bisons fall to RailRiders, 4-1

T.J. Rumfield and Ben Rice hit home runs for the RailRiders as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre topped the Bisons, 4-1, on Thursday night at Sahlen Field.

In the first game of the series that didn’t require extra innings, the RailRider home runs were too much for the Bisons to overcome. Buffalo only tallied a single run in the contest on Riley Tirotta’s fifth inning RBI-triple. Buffalo had only six hits while striking out 12 times.

With Scranton/Wilkes-Barre already ahead 1-0 thanks to a third-inning RBI-single from Caleb Durbin, Rumfield doubled his team’s advantage with his 14^th home run of the season. Leading off the fifth inning, the RailRiders designated hitter turned on the first pitch he saw from Bisons starter Paolo Espino and drove it 412 feet into the Bisons bullpen.

Then in the eighth inning, Rice put the game out of reach with a two-run shot to center off reliever Braydon Fisher for this 10^th home run of the year. The homer did its damage on the scoreboard, but may have a lasting impact to the Bisons lineup, as well. The red-hot hitting Alan Roden was in center for the Herd and after jumping into the wall in an attempt to catch the home run, he came down hard on his right ankle and had to be removed from the game.

The Bisons lone run in the game came in the fifth inning as Damiano Palmegiani walked and scored on Tirotta’s triple into the right field corner. Buffalo, however, left Tirotta at third base despite two at-bats to bring the game-tying run home.

Despite the loss, Espino delivered a quality start for the Bisons. The veteran righty allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings of work. He issued just one free pass and struck out two.

With three games left in the season, the Bisons will host the RailRiders for the final Honda fridaynightbash!, Friday at 6:05 p.m., in a game that is also the Herd’s Fan Appreciation Night celebration.