Buffalo Bisons Need Sac Fly in 9th Inning to Defeat Norfolk Tides 4-3

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – April 4, 2008 - Buffalo's Brad Snyder broke a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 9th inning, lifting the Bisons to a 4-3 win over the Tides in a back and forth affair on Friday night from Harbor Park.

With the score knotted at 3-3 in the decisive frame Ben Francisco led off with a line drive single to right field off of Norfolk reliever Bob McCrory (0-1). After back-to-back walks loaded the bases, McCrory struck out Andy Gonzalez for the first out of the inning, but Snyder lined a fly ball deep enough into center field to plate Francisco and give the Bisons the lead.

Norfolk had jumped out to an early lead in the second inning off of Buffalo starter Sean Smith, as Chris Roberson led off the frame with a single and eventually scored on an error. Eider Torres later drove home Mike McCoy with a two-out single to give the Tides a 2-0 advantage.

After a 2-for-4 night, Torres is now 5-for-9 with two runs driven in on the season.

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Buffalo closed the gap to 2-1 with a run in the third, then took the lead in the fifth inning with two runs off of Norfolk reliever Craig Anderson, courtesy of an RBI single by Gonzalez and a run-scoring double by Brad Snyder.

Norfolk answered right back in the 6th, as Adam Stern lined a two-out single, stole second, and came around to score on a single by Omir Santos.

Buffalo reliever Rich Rundles (1-0) earned the win for the Herd, allowing one hit in two scoreless innings of work. Edward Mujica earned his first save of the season with a perfect ninth inning.

Tides starter Garrett Olson allowed just one run on three hits and struck out four, but he also issued six walks in his four innings of work. Olson threw 75 pitches in the outing, 38 of which were strikes.

Norfolk and Buffalo will square off again in the third game of the series on Friday night, with first pitch from Harbor Park slated for 7:15. Jon Leicester is scheduled to take the hill for the Tides, while Buffalo will counter with southpaw Jeremy Sowers.

Box Score: http://norfolktides.com/team/index.php?autoload=boxscore&gid=2008_04_04_bufaaa_noraaa_1&sportcode=aaa

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