Poor Hitting by Buffalo Leads to 4-1 Defeat

The Bisons had only six hits in the game Wednesday night and went 1-for-6 hitting with runners in scoring position as they were defeated 4-1 by the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

Fred Lewis and Mike Nickeas had the only multiple hit games as Lewis went 2-for-4 and Nickeas went 2-for-4 with a double. The only other hits were singles by Lucas Duda and Matt Den Dekker and a double by Adam Loewen. Den Dekker had the only RBI with his single in the second to score Loewen and gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead until the runs where Lehigh Valley scored all four of their runs.

The four runs scored by Lehigh Valley were all attributed to Chris Schwinden who started the game for the Bisons. Schwinden threw five innings, allowing seven hits, four runs, three earned runs since one scored on a Adam Loewen error, two walks, and three strikeouts. CJ Nitkowski, Elvin Ramirez, and Garrett Olson threw four innings combined following Schwinden allowing no runs through the innings. Each pitcher had a strike out in their innings pitched with Elvin Ramirez completing two innings.

Herd Rumblings: C.J. Nitkowski has pitched wonderfully since his return to the minor leagues. Over his 12 appearances, six with Buffalo and six with Binghamton, Nitkowski has thrown 10 innings, allowing seven hits, zero earned runs, six walks, and 13 strikeouts holding hitters to a .206 average. With Nitkowski’s new side arm delivery, he has held lefties to .143 in Binghamton and .273 average in Buffalo. Nitkowski could provide a feel good story with a return to the major leagues in September while also providing some relief to Josh Edgin in the pen since he became the sole lefty with Tim Byrdak going on the disabled list…. Mets #1 rated prospect Zack Wheeler is expected to make his third start of the season for Buffalo as they finish their three game series against Lehigh Valley in Buffalo at 1:05pm on Thursday.