The Herd got one win on Wednesday night, but they desperately needed two.

The Bisons split a doubleheader with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in front of 8,891 at Coca-Cola Field and now are on the brink of elimination from post season consideration. The Herd won the first game, 4-3, before dropping the night cap 4-1.

On the out of town scoreboard, Louisville and Columbus both collected wins. While Buffalo needs to only catch one of the two teams (as one will win the IL West division), one victory by both the Bats and the Clippers will eliminate the Herd from the playoffs.

All three teams have five games left in the regular season.

The Bisons got off on the right foot in the game one victory with runs in three of the first four innings. Justin Turner put the Herd on the board with his 11th home run of the season -10th with the Bisons- one out into the first.

Turner is the eighth Bison with 10 home runs on the season. Last year, Nick Evans was the only Buffalo batter to reach double digits.

Triple-A rookie Zach Lutz and J.R. House plated runs in the second and Turner doubled home Feliciano in the fourth for the 4-0 lead.

The Bisons held on as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored three runs in the fifth inning. Raul Valdes worked five innings to improve his record to 2-1 while southpaw Mike O’Connor pitched the final two frames for his fifth save of the year.

The Yanks bounced back to take game two as IL All-Star Jesus Montero went 3-4 with a first inning home run and a RBI-single in the third inning. The Bisons scored their lone run in the sixth inning on Russ Adam’s 15th home run of the season.

Josh Stinson (1-2) took the loss in game two. He allowed four runs in six innings of work.

BISONS NOTES: Prior to the games, the Bisons added INF Zach Lutz from Double-A Binghamton. Lutz went 1-3 with an RBI-double in his Triple-A debut…Russ Adams now has 56RBI on the season. That’s just two RBI shy of Mike Hessman for the team-high in 2010…Jesus Feliciano went 3-8 in the two games combined.

Buffalo Bisons
72-65, T2nd(-10.5)
G1: LHP Raul Valdes 1-1, 2.61
G2: RHP Josh Stinson 1-1, 2.08

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
82-54, 1st(+10.5)
G1: RHP John Van Benschoten 2-0, 4.05
G2: RHP Hector Noesi 1-0, 6.00

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Coca-Cola Field – Buffalo, NY

TV: Time Warner Cable SportsNet 13
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in the first two games of a three-game series from Coca-Cola Field (Game 1: 5:35 p.m.). The Herd was swept in a two-game set by Syracuse to begin this homestand. Buffalo has lost four straight games. Tomorrow, the Bisons will host the Yankees in the final home game of the 2010 season. The Herd ends the season with two games in Lehigh Valley and two in Rochester.

WILD RACE: The Bisons are now tied with Syracuse, four games back of Louisville for the league’s lone Wild Card race. The Bats, meanwhile, are now a half-game back of Columbus for the IL West title. The Bisons have seven games left while Syracuse and Louisville have six each.

vs. YANKS: The Bisons are 7-6 against the IL North Division champs. The Herd won five of eight at PNC Field and is 2-3 against the Yankees at home. Buffalo split a four-game set with the Yanks at Coca-Cola Field, April 17-20. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won the lone game of a rain-shortened two-game series with a 10-7 win on July 8.

DOUBLE DIP: The Bisons are playing just their third doubleheader of the season, all of which have come in the last 11 days. The Herd was swept in a pair of games by Pawtucket on August 22 (2-9, 5-7). Buffalo split a twin bill the Yankees at PNC Field on Saturday, winning 4-0 and losing 2-1.

TURN IT UP: In just his second game since missing nine games with a knee injury, INF JUSTIN TURNER went 3-3 with a double and his 10th home run of the season. Turner has hit .311 between the Bisons and Norfolk, the 5th highest average in the International League. With the Herd, Turner has hit .332 (93-280) with 20 doubles, nine homers and 53 runs scored in 71 games.

BISONS BITS: INF NICK EVANS has reached base safely in 30 of his 32 games with the Herd since his promotion. Evans sports a .317 batting average and a .387 on-base percentage with Buffalo…OF KIRK NIEUWENHUIS has six outfield assists in only 23 starts with the Bisons…RHP DILLON GEE leads all of Triple-A baseball with 161 strikeouts.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (65-67) lost to the Braves, 9-2, last night. After the game, New York promoted OF LUCAS DUDA and RHP JENRRY MEJIA from the Bisons. Duda will be making his major league debut after .314 with 23 doubles, 17 home runs and 53RBI in 70 games with the Herd. Mejia made one start for Buffalo, striking out nine in eight innings of a no-decision on Monday against Syracuse.

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The Bisons have been a comeback team all season. With only seven games left in the 2010 regular season, the Herd will have to show that same moxie if they want to keep playing past Labor Day.

With only a week left, the Bisons are now down four games in the race for the International League Wild Card race following a 6-4 defeat to Syracuse on Tuesday night in front of 14,118 at Coca-Cola Field.

The Bisons have lost four straight, while Columbus has now leap-frogged Louisville for the lead in the IL West. The Herd now trails the Bats, not the Clippers, for the final post season spot.

Buffalo had early leads of 3-0 and 4-2 thanks to the long ball. Nick Evans launched a missile three-run homer in the first inning. Justin Turner followed with a solo shot in the third inning after the Chiefs had closed to within 3-2.

But Syracuse kept coming, scoring a run in the fifth inning before taking a 5-4 lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. Seth Bynum tied it with a two-out RBI-double. Carlos Maldonado gave the Chiefs the lead when he singled home Bynum.

The game wasn’t without a little controversy. With Buffalo holding onto the 4-3 lead and one out in the fifth inning, Turner singled to right field and Jesus Feliciano tried to go first to third on the play. Feliciano was initially called safe, but after Chiefs manager Trent Jewett came out to argue the call, the three-man umpiring crew gathered and reversed the call on the base paths.

That brought on the ire of Herd skipper Ken Oberkfell, who raced out to argue on his team’s behalf. However, the call remained and instead of runners on first and third and one out with Lucas Duda at the plate, the Bisons slugger hit with just one runner on and two out.

On the hill, Fernando Nieve suffered the loss, his first losing decision in 11 career starts with the Bisons. The righty allowed five runs on 10 hits in six innings of work.

BISONS NOTES:In his second game back from a knee injury, Justin Turner went 3-3 with two runs scored, a double and a home run…Lucas Duda also finished the game with three hits, going 3-4 with a double and a runs scored…Following the game the Mets promoted Lucas Duda and Jenrry Mejia to New York.

The New York Mets today announced that they recalled RHP JENRRY MEJIA from the Bisons. In addition, the Mets also selected the contract of Bisons’ OF LUCAS DUDA. Both players will be available for New York’s game in Atlanta on Wednesday night.

Mejia, 20, made one start for the Bisons. The Mets’ #1 prospect by Baseball America struck out nine in eight innings of a no-decision on Monday night against Syracuse. Mejia made New York’s team out of spring training and made 30 appearances with the Mets, going 0-2 with a 3.25ERA (27.2, 10ER).

Duda has played 70 games with the Bisons since his promotion from Double-A Binghamton on June 14. With the Herd, the outfielder hit .314 (83-264) with 23 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs and 53RBI. He finished 2nd on the Bisons team in home runs and RBI as well as in extra-base hits (41).

From June 28 – July 2, Duda tied a Bisons all time record by homering in five consecutive games.

Buffalo Bisons
72-64, 2nd(-10.5)
RHP Fernando Nieve 2-0, 5.40

Syracuse Chiefs
71-65, 3rd(-11.5)
RHP Erik Arnesen 8-7, 4.18

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Coca-Cola Field – Buffalo, NY

TV: Time Warner Cable SportsNet 13
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Syracuse Chiefs in the final game of a two-game series from Coca-Cola Field (7:05 p.m.). The Herd needs a win tonight to split the set with its IL North Division rival after losing last night, 4-1. Buffalo is now 41-27 at home this season. The Bisons will host the Yankees for a three-game in two-game series starting Wednesday.

WILD RACE: The Bisons have fallen back to 3.5 games behind the Columbus Clippers in the IL Wild Card. Along with the Herd’s loss last night, the Clippers were 6-4 winners over Indianapolis on Monday. Buffalo has eight games left while Columbus has seven contests remaining in 2010.

Bisons Remaining 2010 Home Schedule
Tuesday: Syracuse (7:05 p.m.)
Wednesday: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre DOUBLEHEADER (G1:5:35 p.m.)
Thursday: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (6:05 p.m.)

THRUWAY CUP: The Syracuse Chiefs (19-8) clinched the 2010 Thruway Cup with their victory over the Bisons (15-14) last night. The Chiefs snapped the Red Wings (7-19) two-year reign in the Thruway Series. The Herd is now 6-9 against the Chiefs this season and has now lost the season-series to Syracuse for the third straight year.

WELL SERVED: INF MIKE CERVENAK has hit safely in 19 of his last 22 contests with the Bisons. Since August 7, Cervenak has averaged .360 (31-86) with six doubles, four home runs and 13RBI in 25 games. The stretch has raised his average 27 points to .261. Cervenak leads the Bisons team with 103 games played and 105 hits and is second with 24 doubles.

BATTING RACE: OF JESUS FELICIANO went 0-4 last night to see his average drop to .340 in 82 games with the Bisons. Feliciano is now 31 plate appearances shy of qualifying as the top hitter in the International League. His average would be one point higher than Gwinnett’s INF Barbaro Canizares.

BISONS BITS: LHP MIKE O’CONNOR saw his consecutive scoreless innings streak snapped last night. The southpaw had tossed 16.2 innings without a run…INF NICK EVANS has reached base safely in 29 of his 31 games with the Herd since his promotion. Evans sports a .319 batting average and a .391 on-base percentage…RHP DILLON GEE fanned 11 batters on Saturday and now has an IL-best 161 on the season.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (65-66) lost to the Braves in Atlanta last night by a 9-3 score. Former Bisons INF LUIS HERNANDEZ went 1-3 and drove home his first run with the Mets. LHP PAT MISCH fell to 0-4 in four starts with New York as he allowed five runs on eight hits in three innings. The Mets take on the Braves again tonight with a 7:10 p.m. first pitch.

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