The Bisons got some bad news on Thursday concerning the condition Daniel Murphy. The infielder will miss the next four to six months with a high grade MCL tear of the right knee.
No surgery will be required, but the timetable means Murphy will miss the rest of the season. Murphy was playing his second game at second base for the Bisons on Wednesday night and was slid into hard by Chiefs’ Leonard Davis. Murphy had to be helped off the field by his teammates.

Murphy had played eight games with Buffalo since joining the club on May 24. He hit .294 (10-34) with one home run and eight RBI.

In front of a packed house at Coca-Cola field, Syracuse Chiefs starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg showed Buffalo why he was worthy of the number one draft pick in the 2009 MLB Entry Draft. Strasburg pitched five masterful innings, allowing only three hits and no runs in his last minor league start.

Strasburg showed his famous fastball early and often. Topping off at 99 mph and keeping it in the upper nineties for the majority of the day, Strasburg was able to blow his fastball by the Herd for five strikeouts. Strasburg was able to keep the Herd off balance for the good portion of his start by using his fastball and then mixing it up with his breaking ball which was kept in the low eighties and even reached 79 mph.

He was also able to keep the International League’s leader in home runs and RBI, third baseman Mike Hessman in check. Strasburg was able to keep the “Loch-Hess” Monster at bay by striking out Hessman and getting him to fly out in the two at-bats they faced each other. Hessman eventually went 0-4 on the day.

Strasburg was able to get run support from his teammates early when second baseman Pete Orr hit a two run home run in the second inning to take the lead, one the Chiefs would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Orr hit his seventh home run of the season on a 3-2 pitch from Bisons starting pitcher Dillon Gee over the right field wall to give the Chiefs a 2-0 early lead.

Strasburg was even able to help out his own cause when he singled to center off of Gee in the fifth inning. He was then driven home when Chase Lambin grounded back to the pitcher, allowing Strasburg to score.

Gee, the Bisons leader in wins and strikeouts on the season pitched six innings and allowed seven hits in the losing effort. In his six innings of work the Chiefs were able to score five runs on Gee, but due to two errors by Bisons first baseman Mike Jacobs only two runs were earned. Gee had a great command of the strike zone however, by punching out seven batters and improving on his total for strikeouts to 61 for the year.

Strasburg left the game after the fifth inning, throwing 89 pitches on the day with 54 of them being for strikes. Strasburg ended his tour through the Minor Leagues with a 4-1 record and a 1.08 ERA in his six starts in Triple A.

After Strasburg had left the game the Herd were still unable to produce any offense. The only run the Bisons would score would come in the eighth inning after center fielder Jesus Feliciano hit a two-out double to extend the inning. Feliciano was then driven home by a single from second baseman Justin Turner for his eleventh RBI of the season.

Feliciano provided the majority of the offense for the Herd on the day. Feliciano collected two of the five hits the Bisons had as a team as he went 2-4 on the day and improved his league leading batting average to .388.

The loss now drops the Herd to 30-24 on the season and now they now trail the Chiefs by 2.5 games for the division lead.

On the eve of Strasburg-mania gripping Coca-Cola Field, the injury bug sunk its teeth into the Buffalo Bisons roster.

A long night that featured an hour and 58-minute rain delay, 11 pitchers not named Stephan Strasburg and the ejection of a hurler with seven strikeouts in the fourth inning, the Bisons fell to the Syracuse Chiefs, 6-3.

More important than the final score, however, was the players that had to be removed from the Herd line up during the contest -catcher Josh Thole and infielder Daniel Murphy.

Thole’s exit came just four batters into the night. Josh Whitesell swung and missed at an offering from Buffalo starter Bobby Livingston and his bat caught the Buffalo backstop upside the head on the follow through. Thole walked off under his own power, but had to be replaced by J.R. House.

Then, after seven innings and nearly a two-hour rain delay, Murphy suffered his injury while trying to turn a doubleplay. Syracuse’s Leonard Davis slid hard into second base to break up the play and caught Murphy in the right leg. After getting up onto his feet, Murphy was helped off the field by his teammates.

After the game, Bisons manager said Murphy was pretty banged up on the play. He also said that Thole would not start on Thursday, but thinks he’ll be alright.

The bizarre twists of the night began in the fourth inning with Bisons starter Bobby Livingston on the mound. With a 1-0 lead, the southpaw had struck out seven of the first 12 batters he faced. Livingston then hit Whitesell with a 77mph curveball and was immediately ejected, even though it appeared that Whitesell openly agreed that he didn’t think the off-speed plunking was intentional. Still, Livingston was forced from the game despite not allowing a ball to reach the outfield in 3.1 innings of work.

After the long rain delay, the Chiefs scored three runs in the seventh and eighth innings for the 6-3 win. Syracuse’s Boomer Whiting bases-clearing triple in the eighth provided the game-winning runs.

BISONS:
Jesus Feliciano – CF
Justin Turner – SS
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Cervenak – LF
Russ Adams – RF
Josh Thole – C
Bobby Livingston – LHP

CHIEFS:
Boomer Whiting – CF
Leonard Davis – LF
Justin Maxwell – CF
Josh Whitesell – 1B
Chase Lambin – 3B
Pete Orr – 2B
Devin Ivany – C
Pedro Lopez – SS
Erik Arnesen – RHP

Pat Misch just keeps delivering quality start after quality start.

The southpaw dealt seven strong innings on Tuesday night to lead the Bisons past the Syracuse Chiefs, 4-1. Mike Jacobs and Mike Hessman added home runs as the Herd defeated their Thruway rival for the first time in 2010.

Misch improved to 5-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.83 -ninth best in the International League. He allowed just five hits and no walks while tying a season-high with seven punchouts. The lone run he allowed in the sixth inning was the only base runner to advance past third base all night.

Misch retired 16 of the first 19 batters he faced. Overall, he threw 71 of his 100 pitches for strikes. The quality start was his team-leading seventh of the year, and his fifth consecutive.

With Misch’s dominance on the mound, the Bisons scored the only runs they would need in the first inning. Hessman knocked in his 54th of the season with an RBI grounder. Three pitches later, Jacobs crushed a 2-0 pitch from Chiefs’ starter Shairon Martis into the berm in right-center for a two-run homer.

The blast was Jacobs’ sixth of the season.

Seven innings later, Hessman provided some very loud insurance. The league’s top slugger vaulted an offering from reliever Victor Garate into the parking lot beyond Oak St. It was Hessman’s 18th home run of the season.

Bobby Parnell closed out the impressive win for his third save of the season. The reliever retired all six batters he faced with three strikeouts.