The New York Mets today announced that Bisons’ RHP JENRRY MEJIA was examined today by Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek and was found to have a complete MCL tear of the right elbow. Mejia underwent an MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Surgical treatment has been recommended, but Mejia is expected to seek a second opinion.

In his last start for the Bisons on April 29 in Rochester, Mejia left after 4.0 innings with discomfort and was flown to New York to be examined. In five starts for the Bisons, Mejia was 1-2 with a 2.86ERA and 21 strikeouts in 28.1 innings.

 Mejia went 0-4 with a 4.62 ERA in 33 games, three starts for New York in 2010.

Monday, May 2, 2011 (7:05 p.m.) – Coca-Cola Park
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

Buffalo Bisons (10-15, 5th(-5.5), North)
RHP Josh Stinson (1-2, 6.43)

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (13-11, T2nd(-2.0), North)
RHP Brian Bass (1-1, 4.26)

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Buffalo Bisons face the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the third game of a four-game from Coca-Cola Park (7:05 p.m.). The Herd trails 0-2 in the series following a pair of losses to the IronPigs over the weekend. The Bisons are also 2-4 on their eight-game roadtrip that began with a split of a four-game set in Rochester. After Wednesday’s off day, the Bisons will host the Louisville Bats at Coca-Cola Field.

VS. IRONPIGS: The Bisons are 2-4 against the IronPigs this year as the teams split a four-game set at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, April 22-25. Lehigh Valley has now won four of their last five games against Buffalo. The Bisons need a win tonight and tomorrow morning to split this four-game series.

FOUR FOR HITTING: OF KIRK NIEUWENHUIS collected the Bisons third four-hit performance yesterday. The other two are courtesy of INF RUBEN TEJADA on Tuesday in Rochester and OF FERNANDO MARTINEZ on Opening Day. Nieuwenhuis is now 10th in the International League with a .330 average and tied for second with a .438 on-base percentage.

ZIPPIDY DUDA: OF LUCAS DUDA has four multi-hit performances in the last week. The outfielder has hit .346 (9-26) since April 25 with three doubles, two home runs and four RBI. After hitting 17 with the club last year, Duda’s next home run will be his 20th career Bisons’ homer.

OH NO YOU DON’T: C RAUL CHAVEZ is the league’s top defensive catcher. He leads all IL backstops with 10 caught stealings and a 53% success rate throwing out base runners (nine stolen bases against). Yesterday, Chavez threw out two attempted steals and also picked off a runner at first base. At the plate, Chavez had two hits, including his first double of the season.

ROSTER MOVE: Yesterday, C MIKE NICKEAS was added to the roster and INF JONATHAN MALO was sent to Single-A Brooklyn. Nickeas was optioned by the Mets on Friday after hitting .250 (5-20) in eight games. The 27-year old hit his first career major league home run on April 21 off Houston’s LHP J.A. Happ. Malo was 0-2 in three games with the Herd.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (12-16) snapped their three-game slide with a 2-1 win over Philadelphia in 14 innings last night. Former Bisons C RONNY PAULINO doubled home the game-winning run as part of a five-hit night in his first start with New York. OFF tonight, the Mets will host the Giants on Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m.

Smooth sailing for five innings for the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lucas Duda both drove in runs and starter Chris Schwinden had just as many hits at the plate than he allowed on the mound. It looked like the Herd was going to have an easy afternoon at Coca-Cola Park.

That was until Jeff Frandsen took over the contest.

The IronPigs shortstop hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning and singled in two more runs in the seventh as Lehigh Valley rallied for a 7-2 victory over the Bisons. Buffalo is now just 2-4 on its eight-game roadtrip with two more contests in Allentown, PA.

Schwinden came into Sunday’s contest with a sparkling 1.15ERA. The Triple-A rookie cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one hit and facing the minimum 15 batters.

Schwinden also got the first batter of the sixth inning, but began to run into trouble when he walked the #8 hitter Erik Kratz and pinch hitter Matt Miller. Former Bison Josh Barfield followed with an RBI-single to cut the Herd’s lead in half, 2-1.

With Taylor Tankersley warming in the pen, Bisons manager Tim Teufel stuck with the righty-righty match up Schwinden and Frandsen. The 28-year old IronPig won the battle, taking a 1-0 delivery from Schwinden into left field for a no-doubt three-run blast.

Frandsen’s two-run single in the seventh came off Jose De La Torre as part of a three-run rally that put the game out of reach.

Buffalo scored both of their runs in the third inning as Nieuwenhuis tripled home Raul Chavez before scoring on a Duda base hit.

TO SUM IT UP: Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Lucas Duda both drove in runs and starter Chris Schwinden had just as many hits at the plate than he allowed on the mound. It looked like the Herd was going to have an easy afternoon at Coca-Cola Park, until Jeff Frandsen took over the contest. The IronPigs shortstop hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning and singled in two more runs in the seventh as Lehigh Valley rallied for a 7-2 victory over the Bisons.

FAST FACTS: Buffalo is now just 2-4 on its eight-game roadtrip with two more contests in Allentown, PA… Nieuwenhuis had four hits, the Bisons third four-hit performance of the season and second on their current roadtrip… Ruben Tejada had four hits on Thursday in Rochester…Raul Chavez was 2-4 at the plate for his first multi-hit game as a Bison… Chavez threw out Josh Barfield twice trying to steal second base and also picked off a runner with a snap-throw to first base.

Buffalo	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Tejada, SS	4	0	0	0	1	1	1	.263
Nieuwenhuis, CF	5	1	4	1	0	1	3	.330
Martinez, F, RF	4	0	0	0	0	3	5	.267
Duda, LF	4	0	2	1	1	0	1	.229
Evans, N, 1B	3	0	2	0	2	0	2	.218
Adams, R, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	8	.169
Hernandez, Lu, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.158
Chavez, R, C	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	.114
Schwinden, P	3	0	1	0	0	2	1	.333
Tankersley, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
De La Torre, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Feliciano, J, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Acosta, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	36	2	11	2	4	7	23

Buffalo	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Schwinden (L, 1-1)	5.1	3	4	4	3	3	1	2.57
Tankersley	1.0	2	3	3	2	1	0	3.27
De La Torre	0.2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.73
Acosta	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3.38

Sunday, May 1, 2011 (1:35 p.m.) – Coca-Cola Park
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

Buffalo Bisons (10-14, T4th(-4.5), North)
RHP Chris Schwinden (1-0, 1.15)

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (12-11, 3rd(-2.0), North)
RHP Eddie Bonine (1-3, 3.47)

TODAY’S GAME: Today, the Buffalo Bisons face the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the second game of a four-game from Coca-Cola Park (1:35 p.m.). The Herd lost 6-3 last night and is now 2-3 on their current eight-game roadtrip. The trip began with a four-game series split in Rochester. Following this series, the Bisons will return home to host their first non-divisional opponent of the year, the Louisville Bats from May 5-8.

VS. IRONPIGS: The Bisons are 2-3 against the IronPigs this year as the teams split a four-game set at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, April 22-25. Yesterday’s win by Lehigh Valley gave them the 27-26 lead in the all-time series against the Herd. The clubs had split the first 52 games evenly. The IronPigs are 15-10 defending their home ballpark against the Bisons.

SCHWING AND MISS: RHP CHRIS SCHWINDEN is coming off his first Triple-A victory. The righty pitched 5.2 shutout innings in Rochester on Tuesday to defeat the Red Wings. Schwinden has not allowed more than one run in each of his first three Triple-A starts and sports a 1.15ERA going into today. Schwinden has struck out 17 and allowed just 11 hits in his first 15.2 innings with the Bisons.

SLOW START: The Bisons closed out April with a 10-14 record. It’s the third time in the last four years the Herd has posted a losing record in the first month of the season, with the lone exception being last April (13-9). May has usually brought a turnaround as the Bisons have just four losing records since 1999 in the second month of the season.

BULLY FOR THE PEN: The bullpen was clearly the Bisons strength in April. Herd relievers posted a 2.73ERA with 80 strikeouts and only 72 hits allowed in 85.2 innings of work. The group also earned half (5) of Buffalo’s wins in April and converted four saves.

HIT MACHINE: OF JESUS FELICIANO takes a four-game hit streak into today’s contest. The outfielder has hit .429 (6-14) with two doubles and two RBI since April 27. Overall, Feliciano is hitting .259 in 10 games this year.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (11-16) lost their third straight game with a 2-1 defeat to the rival Phillies. Philadelphia RHP Roy Halladay threw a complete game for the win. Former Bisons LHP JON NIESE allowed just two runs in 6.1 innings but was the hard luck loser. New York takes on the Phillies again today at 8:00 p.m.