The Buffalo Bisons completed their biggest comeback of the season only to see it squandered by a walk-off home run from Chiefs third baseman Seth Bynum to lose 8-6 at Alliance Bank Stadium.

The Chiefs touched the Bisons up for three early runs off of starting pitcher Tobi Stoner in the first inning. Stoner then gave up one run in the fifth and two in the sixth to see the Bisons trailing 6-1.

Stoner who was credited with the no decision gave up a season-high amount of earned runs when he allowed six of them in his five and two thirds innings of work.

The Bisons then stormed back in the seventh inning however scoring four runs. Three of those runs came off of the bat of IL Batter of the Week, left fielder Lucas Duda when he homered to right field. Duda’s three run blast and sixth home run in the last nine games pulled the game to within two runs until Fernando Martinez hit a pinch-hit solo home run later in the inning to trim the Chiefs lead down to one.

First baseman Mike Jacobs then hit his 11th home run of the season in the eighth inning to tie the game and bring the game back to even. The Bisons could not drive in any more runs and the game stood tied heading into the bottom half of the ninth.

Pitcher Manny Acosta was brought in to keep the game knotted up and send it into extra innings. Acosta got the first out of the inning by striking out Chiefs second baseman Chase Lambin. Acosta then allowed a single to first baseman Jason Botts to put the winning run on the bases.

In the next at-bat to Bynum, Acosta had two consecutive pitches get by catcher J.R House to move Lambin to third and put him within 90 feet of winning the game. Bynum then won the game and unraveled the Herd’s comeback by sending a 2-2 pitch from Acosta deep to right center field for a walk-off home run.

It was the first walk-off home run the Herd had given up this season and first since Rochester’s Justin Huber did it to the Bisons last August in a Red Wings victory. The tough loss drops the Herd’s record now to 44-42 while the Chiefs improve to 49-38 for the season.

BISONS NOTES: Third baseman Mike Cervenak was the only member of the Bisons to have a multi-hit game today. Cervenak went 3-4 with three singles and an RBI. Duda who was named the IL Batter of the Week today becomes the third Bison to do so this year. For the week Duda led all International League batters with five home runs, including a five-game home run streak, 11RBI and a 1.000 slugging percentage last week. The Bisons will play their third game of the four-game series against the Chiefs tomorrow when Raul Valdes (1-0, 0.93 ERA) takes on Jeff Mandel (4-3, 4.70 ERA).

BISONS:
Justin Turner, 2B
Luis Hernandez, SS
Jorge Padilla, CF
Mike Jacobs, 1B
Fernando Martinez, RF
Mike Cervenak, 3B
Lucas Duda, LF
JR House, C
Tobi Stoner, RHP

CHIEFS:
Boomer Whiting, LF
Justin Maxwell, CF
Chase Lambin, 2B
Jason Botts, 1B
Kevin Mench, RF
Pete Orr, SS
Leonard Davis, 3B
Carlos Maldonado, C
Matt Chico, LHP

The International League announced today that Buffalo outfielder Lucas Duda and Gwinnett pitcher Todd Redmond have been named the League’s Batter and Pitcher of the Week for the period from June 28-July 4. Each player is the third on his respective ballclub to receive an IL weekly award in 2010. Duda follows Mike Hessman (April 26-May 2) and Jesus Feliciano (May 17-23) while Redmond joins Chris Resop (May 10-16) and Matt Young (June 21-27).

Buffalo outfielder Lucas Duda
It was just his third week with Buffalo since being promoted from Double-A Binghamton on June 14, but Bisons left fielder Lucas Duda led the International League with five home runs, 11 RBI, and a 1.000 slugging percentage this week and made headlines by homering in five consecutive games. He hit a three-run home run on Monday in Charlotte and hit solo shots on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Syracuse Chiefs at Coca-Cola Field. Duda then hit a solo home run in Thursday’s series opener against Rochester before going deep again on Friday night when he knocked one over the right-center field wall in the 3rd inning.

That blast made him just the fifth player in the 125-year history of the Buffalo franchise to hit home runs in five consecutive games. The most recent to do so was Andy Marte in June of 2006.

CLICK HERE: Lucas Duda’s player page

24-year-old Lucas Duda is in his fourth season of professional baseball after being chosen by the Mets in the 7th round of the 2007 draft. He was hitting .286 with six homers and 34 RBI in 45 games with Binghamton this season before being promoted to Buffalo. Duda is a native of Fontana, California.

Gwinnett pitcher Todd Redmond
Braves right-hander Todd Redmond faced off against the leaders of the IL West and IL South Divisions on the road this week, and came away with a 1-0 record and a 0.69 ERA, having allowed just one run, seven hits, and three walks while recording ten strikeouts in 13.0 innings of work. Most importantly, he helped Gwinnett to victories in both games. He didn’t receive the decision Monday night at Columbus, but Redmond was strong. His Braves held a slim 1-0 lead until Luis Valbuena connected for a solo home run in the 6th inning, which was Redmond’s last. Gwinnett eventually won 4-3. Saturday night in Durham, Redmond tossed 7.0 spectacular innings. The Bulls, 2nd only to Columbus in the IL in runs scored this season) managed just two hits off of Redmond in the 3-0
Braves win.

25-year-old Todd Redmond is in his sixth season of professional baseball. His first year at the Triple-A level came last season with Gwinnett, during which he went 9-6 with a 4.41 ERA. On May 28 of this season he threw the first 9-inning no-hitter in franchise history when he blanked Louisville 4-0. Redmond is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Bisons scored early and often in a 10-2 win at Alliance Bank Stadium against the Syracuse Chiefs.

Syracuse opened up the game with a run in the bottom of the first inning only to see that lead taken by the Herd behind a three-run top half of the second. Second baseman Justin Turner singled to center to drive home right fielder Fernando Martinez and catcher Jean Luc Blaquiere for Turner’s 21st RBI of the season. Turner was 2-5 on the day.

Buffalo then really opened up the game in the fifth inning when they scored four more runs to put the game out of reach.

Martinez continued his hot streak for the day by hitting his sixth home run of the season to deep right field off of Chiefs starting pitcher Erik Arnesen. F-Mart’s two run shot would prove to be the last pitch the Chiefs starter would throw on the day as he was replaced by reliever Collin Balester.

Arnesen was caught in the crosshairs by a team looking to bounce back after their 1-0 loss to the Red Wings yesterday. The Bisons did the majority of the damage in Arnesen’s four and a third innings of work. The Bisons got to the right hander for seven hits and seven earned runs.

On the other side of the mound, the Bisons received an excellent start from starter Dillon Gee. Gee went seven innings while just giving up only five hits and two runs. The starter also struck out six batters. Gee now improves to 8-5 on the season and ties Pat Misch for the team lead in wins. The Herd have their record improve to 44-40 on the season while the Chiefs fall to 47-38 on the year. The Bisons have been streaking as of late winning five of their last six games after losing four of their previous five games.

BISONS NOTES: First baseman Mike Jacobs also hit a home run to give him ten for the season. Jacobs launched a 3-1 pitch to right field to give him double digit homers for the year. The Bisons will continue their series with the Chiefs tomorrow when Tobi Stoner (4-7, 5.28 ERA) will face off against Matt Chico (3-4, 4.24 ERA) at 7:00 p.m.

BISONS:
Justin Turner, 2B
Luis Hernandez, SS
Jorge Padilla, CF
Mike Jacobs, 1B
Lucas Duda, LF
Fernando Martinez, RF
Russ Adams, 3B
Jean Luc Blaquiere, C
Dillon Gee, RHP

CHIEFS:
Pete Orr, SS
Justin Maxwell, CF
Chase Lambin, 2B
Jason Botts, LF
Leonard Davis, RF
Chris Duncan, 1B
Seth Bynum, 3B
Carlos Maldonado, C
Erik Arnesen, RHP