The thorn in the Bisons side struck one final time.

PawSox centerfielder Josh Reddick hit a grand slam as part of a five-run 10th inning as Pawtucket defeated the Bisons, 8-3, on Wednesday night from Coca-Cola Field.

With the win, the Red Sox took four of the six games in their series with the Bisons. However, Buffalo did not lose any ground in the IL Wild Card race as Columbus and Louisville also lost on Wednesday.

Reddick entered the series finale with eight hits in previous nine at-bats against Buffalo, including a 5-5 performance in Tuesday night’s loss. After going 1-4 in Wednesday’s first nine innings, he launched a 2-1 offering from Adam Pettyjohn into the berm in right-centerfield to give him four home runs and eight RBI in the last three games.

Overall, Reddick had 12 hits in the six-game series with the Herd.

Reddick’s homer actually wasn’t the game-winning run. Walks ended up hurting the Bisons the most as Lars Anderson and Jack Hannahan drew free passes off reliever Sean Green. Jorge Jimenez put Pawtucket up for good when he singled home Anderson with two outs in the 10th. Niuman Romero followed with an infield single to load the bases for Reddick’s slam.

The Bisons fought back from an early 3-0 deficit to force extra innings with solo runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings. Valentino Pascucci completed the comeback with a laser home run into the left field screen with two outs in the eighth inning.

Andy Green got the Herd on the board when doubled home Mike Cervenak for the Herd’s first run. Nick Evans led off the sixth inning with a triple and scored on Kirk Nieuwenhuis’s grounder.

The Bisons will now leave for a five-game in four-day roadtrip. The next two nights are in Syracuse and a doubleheader is scheduled on Saturday for a weekend series in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

BISONS NOTES: Prior to the game, the Bisons placed Fernando Martinez on the disabled list with right knee soreness. The move was made retroactive to August 23, so F-Mart would be eligible to come off the DL on Monday…Mike O’Connor continued his dominance over the PawSox. With two more solid innings of relief, the lefty has 18 strikeouts in 11.2 scoreless innings against Pawtucket. Wednesday night’s game was Buffalo’s 12th extra-inning game this season. Eleven have come at Coca-Cola Field.

Buffalo Bisons
70-59, 2nd(-7.5)
LHP Raul Valdes 1-1, 2.11

Pawtucket Red Sox
57-74, 4th(-21.5)
LHP Rich Hill 2-0, 3.82
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Coca-Cola Field – Buffalo, NY

Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons host the Pawtucket Red Sox in the final game of a six-game in five-day series at Coca-Cola Field (7:05 p.m.). The Herd (2-3) is looking to salvage a split after last night’s 7-3 loss. The Bisons are now 41-25 (.621) at home and 37-28 (.569) against IL North opponents. After this series the Herd starts a five-game roadtrip tomorrow in Syracuse.

WILD RACE: The Bisons did not lose any ground to the Clippers in the IL Wild Card race last night. Buffalo is two games behind Columbus, as the Clippers lost to Toledo 7-3. Louisville won last night and now leads Columbus by 1.5 games in the IL West division race.

vs. PAWSOX: The Bisons are 8-7 against Pawtucket this season. The Bisons are hitting .298 with 75 runs scored (5.0/game) against Pawtucket this season, led by INF RUSS ADAMS (.481, 13-27, 2HR, 8RBI), OF LUCAS DUDA (.382, 13-34, 2HR, 8RBI) and INF MIKE CERVENAK (.333, 18-54, 1HR, 5RBI).

HOT HITTER: INF RUSS ADAMS belted another two hits last night to extend his hit streak to nine-games. During the stretch, the slugger has hit .438 (14-32) with four homers, 12 RBI and nine runs scored. In 14 games in August, Adams has 12 extra-base hits and a 1.023 slugging percentage. His 26 doubles and 41 extra-base hits for the season lead all Bisons.

DUDA MATH: OF LUCAS DUDA hit two doubles last night. Since he joined the team on June 14, Duda’s 40 extra-base hits are seven more than any other hitter in the International League. Duda also leads the IL in home runs (17), slugging percentage (.650) and total bases (152) and is second in the league in doubles (21) and RBI (53) since his promotion from the Binghamton Mets.

TALE OF TWO PENS: During the month of August, the bullpen has pitched 68.0 innings, posting a 3.04ERA and 1.24 WHIP. However, Bisons relievers have a 1.33ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in the 16 Buffalo wins this month and a 9.64ERA and 1.71 WHIP in the six Herd losses. In those victories, the bullpen has pitched 54.0 innings and allowed just two home runs. In the losses, the bullpen has tossed 14.0 innings and allowed three homers.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (63-62) defeated the Marlins last night, 6-5, in a walk-off victory. INF LUIS CASTILLO drove home former Bisons INF IKE DAVIS in the ninth inning to win the game. The two teams are back in action again tonight as former Bisons LHP PAT MISCH takes the hill for Mets at Citi Field at 7:05 p.m. The southpaw has posted a 3.00ERA in his first two starts with New York.

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The Bisons have 70 wins and 32 comeback victories in 2010. They nearly added to both on Tuesday night.

Buffalo batted around in the eighth inning, but an early four-run deficit proved to be too big a hole to climb out of in a 7-3 defeat to the Pawtucket Red Sox from Coca-Cola Field. PawSox centerfielder Josh Reddick had five hits, and helped his team pull away late from the Bisons.

The Herd faced a 4-0 deficit in the eight inning when Luis Hernandez singled and Andy Green drew a one-out walk. Then with two outs, Nick Evans breathed live into the team with a two-run double off the left field wall. Kirk Nieuwenhuis followed with a bloop double down the left field line, bringing Buffalo to within 4-3.

The Bisons then loaded the bases as former Herd hurler, Fernando Cabrera, came in and walked Valentino Pascucci and Russ Adams. Cabrera rebounded, however, to get Mike Cervenak to fly out to end the game.

Pawtucket added insurance with three more runs in the top of the ninth inning. Reddick, who homered earlier in the game, drove in the final run for the PawSox on his fifth hit of the game.

The Bisons did have chances to get on the scoreboard earlier in the game but ran themselves into a couple of unnecessary outs. Lucas Duda led off the fourth inning with a double, but was thrown out trying to advance to third base on Evans grounder.

Green led off the sixth inning with a triple into the right field corner. He was thrown out trying to tag and score on Duda’s fly ball.

Michael Antonini took the loss for Buffalo. The southpaw allowed four runs in eight innings of work.

The Herd and PawSox will close out their six-game in five-day series on Wednesday night with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch from Coca-Cola Field. The first 4,000 fans through the Swan St. Gate (opens at 6pm) will receive a Fernando Martinez Bobble Head, courtesy of NAPA Auto Parts.

BISONS NOTES: J.R. House lost his 10-game hit streak. The Bisons’ catcher was 0-3 with a walk on Tuesday night…Russ Adams reached base all four times he came to the plate. He was 2-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch.

Buffalo Bisons
70-58, 2nd(-6.5)
LHP Michael Antonini 1-1, 4.50

Pawtucket Red Sox
56-74, 4th(-21.5)
RHP Adam Mills (2-9, 5.31)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Coca-Cola Field – Buffalo, NY

Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons host the Pawtucket Red Sox in the fifth game of a six-game in five-day series at Coca-Cola Field (7:05 p.m.). The Herd evened the series at 2-2 with a 12-4 victory last night. The Bisons are now 41-24 (.631) at home and 37-27 (.578) against IL North opponents. After this series the Herd starts a five-game roadtrip on Thursday in Syracuse.

WILD RACE: With last night’s win, the Bisons kept pace with the Clippers in the IL Wild Card race. Buffalo is two games behind Columbus, as the Clippers beat Toledo on Monday, 4-3. Louisville also won last night, to stay a half game up on Columbus in the IL West division race.

vs. PAWSOX: The Bisons are 8-6 against Pawtucket this season. With last night’s win, the Herd is now 8-3 in its last 11 home games against the PawSox. The Bisons are hitting .300 with 72 runs scored (5.1/game) against Pawtucket this season, led by INF RUSS ADAMS (.440, 11-25, 2HR, 8RBI), OF LUCAS DUDA (.367, 11-30, 2HR, 8RBI) and INF MIKE CERVENAK (.340, 17-50, 1HR, 5RBI).

HOT HITTER: INF RUSS ADAMS hit two home runs last night for the second time this season. Adams also went deep twice on June 28 in Charlotte. In 12 games since August 2, he has 12 extra-base hits and a 1.108 slugging percentage. His 26 doubles and 41 extra-base hits for the season lead all Bisons.

WELL CERVED: INF MIKE CERVENAK had two doubles and three runs scored in last night’s contest. The veteran is hitting .333 (20-60) in August, with six doubles, two home runs, nine RBI and 13 runs scored in 17 games. Cervenak leads all Bisons players with 95 games played and is second with 24 doubles.

MY HOUSE: C J.R. HOUSE is the seventh Bisons player to reach 10 games with a hit streak this season. House enters tonight’s game with a .333 (13-39) average, two home runs and nine RBI in his 10-game stretch. House has also driven in a run in each of his last five games.

DOMINATING: LHP MIKE O’CONNOR has been spectacular of late. The reliever has tossed 13.0 consecutive innings of scoreless relief for the Herd over his last six-plus outings. The southpaw has 61 strikeouts in 61.0 innings this season and 15 punchouts in his last 8.2 innings of work.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (62-62) begin a six-game homestand tonight with the first game of a three-game series against the Florida Marlins (7:10 p.m.). Tonight’s game features a great pitching match-up as former Bisons RHP R.A. DICKEY (8-5) is slated to go against the Fish’s RHP Josh Johnson (11-5).

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After arguably the toughest day of the 2010 season, the Bisons bounced back with a big victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox on Monday night from Coca-Cola Field.

Russ Adams crushed a pair of home runs and Dillon Gee struck out six more batters as the Herd ripped the PawSox for a 12-4 victory. Every player in the Herd lineup collected a hit as the team put Sunday’s doubleheader loss very far behind them.

Playing without Justin Turner or Fernando Martinez, Buffalo’s lineup didn’t skip a beat. The Herd pounded out 15 hits in all, including eight for extra-bases, and batted around in consecutive innings. The bottom three in the club’s order, Mike Cervenak, Adams and J.R. House, combined to go 6-14 with five RBI and six runs scored.

In a night full of big hits, Adams had the two biggest. The right fielder hit a two-run homer down the right field line as part of a four-run Bisons rally in the sixth inning. A frame later, he blasted a second two-run shot to deep centerfield to key another four-run outburst for the Herd.

Adams now has 12 extra-base hits in his last 12 games, including six home runs. Since August 2, the right fielder has posted an impressive 1.108 slugging percentage.

The rest of the Bisons order followed Adams’ lead as all nine batters collected a hit and eight of the nine scored a run. Buffalo plated two in the first inning after a two-out fielding error by PawSox third baseman Jorge Jimenez.

The Herd increased its lead to 4-1 in the fourth thanks to a passed ball and a sacrifice fly from House. The team then batted around in the sixth and seventh innings for the blow out win

That was more than enough for Dillon Gee to earn his team-leading 13th win of the season. Gee gave up four runs in 6.2 innings of work and increased his Triple-A leading strikeout total to an even 150.

Gee is now tied with Durham’s Richard De Los Santos for the most in the International League. The total is also the most by a Bisons pitcher since Jason Jacome colleted 14 wins in 1998.

BISONS NOTES: The Bisons had six doubles in the game, including two from Mike Cervenak…Buffalo did not gain any ground in the IL playoff chase as both Columbus and Louisville collected wins on Monday night…The 12 runs by the Bisons match a season-high for the Herd. They scored 12 runs in five other games, most recently in a 12-4 win over Rochester on July 2.