Bisons fall to RailRiders in slugfest, 8-5

Josh Kasevich homered for the Bisons but Oswald Peraza left the yard twice for the RailRiders as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre defeated the Herd, 8-5, Saturday afternoon from Sahlen Field in the penultimate game of the 2024 season.

Peraza homered in the fourth and ninth innings of the game, after the two teams combined to score eight runs in the first inning. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre batted around in their half of the first and scored five runs. Buffalo also sent nine batters to the plate and tallied three times in the game’s first frame.

Ironically, even though Peraza ended the game 3-5 on the afternoon, he did not reach base when the RailRiders built their early 5-0 lead. It was Jorbit Vivas and Ben Rice who hit solo home runs off Bisons starter Trenton Wallace to get the rally going. Oscar Gonzalez then cleared the bases with a three-run double that hit the third base bag and eluded Buffalo third baseman, Orelvis Martinez.

But the Bisons had their only rally in the first inning that started with two outs when Martinez struck out but reached base on a passed ball. Domiano Palmegiani followed with a single as did Will Robertson to cut the deficit to 5-1. Palmegiani then scored on a RailRiders fielding error before Braden Barry drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 5-3.

Kasevich’s home run in the second inning got the Herd the closest they would be on the day. The shortstop’s third home run with the Herd traveled 390 feet out to left field and left his bat at 99.2 mph.

Peraza ensured that 5-4 was the closest the Bisons would get. He pulled a two-run home run down the left field line in the fourth inning to give RailRiders a 7-4 cushion. Then in the ninth, he completed his multi-home run performance with his 12^th of the year out to left-center.

One home run the RailRiders didn’t get was by Cam Eden in the seventh. The former Bison hit a long fly ball out to left but Michael Turconi made a leaping grab at the wall to take the home run away. The play was even more impressive with the fact that Saturday was just Turconi’s second career game in left field and his first at the Triple-A level.

The loss for Buffalo on Saturday went to Wallace who is now 0-3 on the season.

The Bisons close out the 2024 season with one more home game, Sunday afternoon with a 1:05 p.m. first pitch against the RailRiders.