Bisons Get Shutout Again

On a cold and blustery night in Buffalo, the Bisons' bats again failed to heat up. The Herd fell 1-0 to the Norfolk Tide, marking the the second straight shutout loss to start the series.

The game was briskly played behind two starters at very different points in their respective careers. The Tide threw 22 year-old Zach Davies, who dominated the Bisons over 6.2 innings. The young righty continued his impressive start to the campaign predominantly throwing a mix of fastball change-up, with the later being his best pitch. Davies kept hitters off balance and over thinking said Gary Allenson post game.

His counterpart was 38 year-old Randy Wolf, who was not quite as dominant, but equally effective. The veteran southpaw used his full arsenal to work out of a few jams and keep the Tide off the board. Wolf was encouraged with his ability to throw the curveball for strikes, even down in the count. What was most impressive for Wolf was the quality of his cutter, which allowed him to work both sides of the plate. In the end it was a great start for Wolf who went seven scoreless striking out 5.

Unfortunately neither the offense nor the defense could match the quality from the pitchers. Two early errors would have led to runs if not for Wolf, and clearly the bats never got going, as only three runners reached scoring position. In the end the game's only run scored because of a ninth inning error from Ryan Tepera that prevented an inning ending double play. Tepera took the loss, although he did a fine job working out of an eighth inning mess made by Luis Perez in his Bisons debut. Former Bison Pedro Beato earned the win for the Tide moving to 2-0.

The Herd will look to rebound Wednesday with Chad Jenkins on the mound. He will face Eddie Gamboa in the third of this four game set with the Tide.