Lucas Duda exploded with two homeruns and four RBI Wednesday night at Knights Stadium as the Bisons dropped the Knights, 10-3.
Duda got started in the second inning. With two men on and facing a 2-2 count, Duda got a called ball three on a check swing. He hit the payoff pitch over the right-field wall for his first homerun of the game and three of his four RBI.

Duda’s second homerun of the game was a solo-shot in the fourth inning over the right field wall making the score, 5-1. Duda’s blasts gave him seven on the season, tops on the Bisons team. Both homeruns came off of Knights starter Freddy Dolsi.

Valentino Pascucci stayed hot driving in one run in the first inning and going three-for-three with one walk. Pascucci was thrown out at the plate twice, once in the fourth and a second time in the seventh.

Michael Fisher reached first after being hit by a pitch and worked his way to third on a double by Lucas Duda. Pascucci followed Duda with a one-out-single to score Fisher from third and give the Bisons the early, 1-0, lead.

The Bisons added their sixth run in the seventh when Mike Nickeas drove in Jason Botts with a sacrifice fly.

After loading the bases with Bisons in the ninth Botts drilled a line-drive two-run double scoring Duda and Fernando Martinez to make it, 8-3. Pascucci moved to third on Bott’s double and then scored on a wild pitch while Bott’s moved to third with just one out.

Bott’s scored the tenth run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Luis Hernandez.

Bisons starter Dylan Owen pitched five innings giving up six hits and one earned run in the second inning when Jordan Danks drilled a homerun for the Knights first run of the game. Owen recorded seven strikeouts, a season high for his 2011 season.

Owens last appearance came on May 23 against the Knights in Buffalo. He went three innings while giving up two runs in a no decision. He got the win in Wednesday night’s game.

Game Notes: Lucas Duda took the team lead in homeruns after belting two in Wednesdays game, It was also Duda’s first game with four RBI in one game…Starter Dylan Owen notched a season high seven strikeouts in five innings…The Bisons moved to, 4-3, when playing the Knights this season.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 (7:15 p.m.) – Knights Stadium
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

Buffalo Bisons (24-29, T4th(-8.0), North)
RHP Dylan Owen (1-2, 5.40)

Charlotte Knights (23-27, 3rd(-5.5), South)
RHP Freddy Dolsi (3-3, 7.53)

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Charlotte Knights in the third game of a four-game series from Knights Stadium (7:15 p.m.). The Herd and Knights have split the first two games of the set. Following tomorrow night’s series finale, the Bisons will continue their roadtrip with a four-game series in Gwinnett against the Braves.

VS. THE KNIGHTS: The Bisons are 3-3 against the Knights this season. The two teams split a four-game series at Coca-Cola Field, May 21-24. Buffalo is looking for its first series win at Knights Stadium since the 2005 season. Since then, the Herd has just two splits and three series losses to Charlotte.

ON THE BUMP: Tonight, RHP DYLAN OWEN will make his fifth start and eighth appearance for the Bisons this season. The righty is 1-2 with a 3.71ERA in his four previous starts. His last outing came Monday, May 23 as he allowed two runs (one earned) in three innings to the Knights. The Bisons won that rain-shortened game, 6-2 (game stopped after 5 innings).

HOT HITTER: OF FERNANDO MARTINEZ has driven in a run in three of his first four games since being optioned by the Mets on Friday. Going back to before his promotion, Martinez has averaged .389 (7-18) with two doubles, three home runs and six RBI in his last six Triple-A games. For the year, the outfielder has amassed a .527 slugging percentage in 23 games.

HERE’S THE DISH: LHP PAT MISCH has cleared waivers after being designated by the Mets on Friday. The southpaw is expected to join the Bisons in the next few days. Misch is 0-2 with a 6.46ERA in four starts with the Bisons around two stints with the New York Mets.

METS UPDATE: The Pirates scored five runs in the final two innings to defeat the Mets (25-28), 5-1, last night. Former Bisons’ RHP R.A. DICKEY struck out 10 batters but fell to 2-6 on the year. The Mets had just one extra-base hit in the loss. New York hosts the Pirates for game three of the four-game set tonight at 7:10 p.m.

Walking batters came back to haunt the Bisons as they fall, 8-4, to Charlotte on Tuesday at Knights Stadium.

Schwinden is, 0-1, with two no decisions when walking three batters. He gave free passes to four batters during the 4.2 innings he worked Tuesday. Three of the five runs Schwinden gave up came as a result of walking batters. Four of the eight runs the Herd gave up were due to walks.

Schwinden walked Tyler Flowers in the second inning after getting one out, a batter later Lasting Milledge drove a double off the left-field wall scoring Flowers. Andrew Garcia followed Milledge with a double of his own scoring the Knights second run of the game.

In the fifth inning Schwinden got two quick outs after laboring for most of the fourth inning. With two outs Schwinden walked Mark Teahen, bringing Dayan Viciedo to the plate.

Viciedo didn’t wait long drilling the first pitch Schwinden offered over the right-center-field wall for a two-run homerun. Flowers made it back-to-back homeruns by going yard clearing the thirty foot wall in left-field.

The Knights tacked on a sixth run in the sixth inning after Escobar doubled in Milledge. Milledge drove in one run, while scoring two him-self.

The Knights added another run in the eighth inning thanks to a leadoff walk to Milledge, a double by Garcia and a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Escobar. After moving to third on the sacrifice fly Garcia scored on a double by Jim Gallagher.

The Bisons tried to make a comeback in the ninth starting the inning with a leadoff homerun from Fernando Martinez and a single from Valentino Pascucci. Jason Botts would walk and Jesus Feliciano got a single to load the bases before Raul Chavez hit into a double play scoring Valentino Pascucci.

Luis Hernandez kept the inning alive by slapping a single into left-field and plating Botts to make it, 8-4. Luis Figueroa followed him with a single into center putting runners on first and second before Michael Fisher struck out to end the game.

Game Notes: Chris Schwinden moved to a, 3-3, record …Valentino Pascucci missed out on the hit parade Monday but got the only extra base hit Tuesday and the only RBI for the Bisons, it was Pascucci’s ninth of the season…Herd batters struck out eight times in the game..The Bisons win streak halted at four games.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 (7:15 p.m.) – Knights Stadium
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

Buffalo Bisons (24-28, T4th(-8.0), North)
RHP Chris Schwinden (3-2, 2.36)

Charlotte Knights (22-27, 3rd(-5.5), South)
RHP Deunte Heath (4-2, 3.52)

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Charlotte Knights in the second game of a four-game series from Knights Stadium (7:15 p.m.). The Bisons have won four games in a row for the first time this season. The win streak includes last night’s 7-5 victory in the series opener. Buffalo has also won six of its last eight games and is now an even 14-14 with one game left in May.
 
VS. THE KNIGHTS: The Bisons now have the 3-2 lead in their season series with the Knights. The two teams split a four-game series at Coca-Cola Field, May 21-24. In the five games against Charlotte, Buffalo hitters are averaging .301 with a .340 mark (18-53) with runners in scoring position.

SCHWING AND MISS: RHP CHRIS SCHWINDEN will make his ninth start of the season and his first since a May 21st outing against the Knights. The Triple-A rookie ranks tied for 3rd in the International League with his 2.36ERA. The righty has been particularly tough on the road this year where he is 2-1 with a 1.96ERA and 21 strikeouts in four starts and 23.0 innings of work.

HE’S THE MANNY: RHP MANNY ACOSTA has earned a save on three consecutive days. The righty closed out the second game of each doubleheader this weekend before collecting his fourth save of the season last night. The last Bisons pitcher to record a save on three straight days was RHP BUBBIE BUZACHERO from August 28-30, 2008. Acosta has now made eight consecutive scoreless appearances for Buffalo (8.2IP, 6H, 2BB, 14K).

GONE FISHIN’: INF MICHAEL FISHER has homered in consecutive games, the third Bison to accomplish the feat this year (Nieuwenhuis, Martinez). Last night, Fisher also became the first Bisons’ batter to score three times in a game this season. Fisher is hitting .300 (18-60) with three home runs and eight RBI in his first 17 career Triple-A games.

BISONS BITS: The Bisons collected a season-high 17 hits last night. The outburst raised the team’s season average four points in one game (.244 – .248)…OF LUCAS DUDA is 5-10 with two home runs, three RBI, two walks and four runs scored in four games since being activated off the disabled list. The Bisons bullpen has allowed just one run in the last seven games (19.2IP, 15H, 29K).

METS UPDATE: The Mets (25-28) collected a 7-3 win over the Pirates Yesterday. Former Bisons’ ace RHP DILLON GEE ran his record to 5-0 with eight strikeouts in seven innings of work. New York had 15 hits including three from former Bison INF RUBEN TEJADA. The Mets host the Pirates again tonight at 7:10 p.m.

With two starting pitchers making their AAA debut, Buffalo held on for a 7-5 win pushing the Herd to a season-high four-game streak in a Monday night Memorial Day tilt in Charlotte.

The Bisons’ offense exploded early, making Knights starter Cameron Bayne’s debut a rough one and giving a cushion for new Bison Mark Cohoon.

The Herd pounded Bayne for four runs on five hits in the first, including an RBI double by Fernando Martinez and Lucas Duda’s third RBI since rejoining the team Saturday.

In the second, Martinez hit another double, scoring Michael Fisher for the second time, pushing the lead to 5-0. A third-inning Luis Hernandez single stretched the lead again, scoring Jesus Feliciano.

Charlotte responded with a run in the bottom of the third before a three-run home run by Eduardo Escobar in the fourth, cutting the Herd lead to 6-4.

A Jim Gallagher double later in the inning shaved the lead to 6-5 with Alejandro De Aza reaching home.

Bayne’s night ended after four innings, but the hits continued without him as Fisher hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot, off of reliever Tyson Corley. Bayne surrendered six runs (all earned) on 13 hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Cohoon left his first start after five innings and earned the win, allowing five earned runs on seven hits, walking two, hitting two batters and striking out one. Taylor Tankersley replaced him to start the sixth.

The southpaw struck out the side between loading the bases to escape the sixth unscathed.

The Bisons also loaded the bases in the next frame, but Corley escaped with Valentino Pascucci hitting a long out to Milledge in right field.

Ryota Igarashi stranded Milledge at second after replacing Tankersley and striking out Andrew Garcia in the seventh.

Duda went 3-for-4 with a walk, a run and an RBI in his fourth game since his activation from the disabled list. Figueroa went 3-for-5 with a walk.

Manny Acosta punched out the Knights with three strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save of the season.

Game Notes: Cohoon made his debut after nine starts with a 1-3 record and a 3.91 ERA in AA Binghamton… Martinez rejoined the team Sunday after his assignment from the Mets… Buffalo left 14 runners on base, while the Knights stranded 11.