Owings, Gonzales rip home runs in Indy’s sixth consecutive loss
By Cheyne Reiter
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Chris Owings lined a two-run home run in the third inning and Nick Gonzales went deep in the ninth, but the Buffalo Bisons scored five runs on seven hits – five for doubles – in the seventh inning to top the Indianapolis Indians 8-3 on Sunday afternoon at Sahlen Field.
Tied at two after the stretch, Buffalo (67-63, 33-22) erupted against southpaw reliever Nick Dombkowski in his Triple-A debut with five runs on four consecutive run-scoring doubles by Rafael Lantigua, Addison Bargar, Damiano Palmegiani and Orelvis Martinez. Lantigua then knocked in Steward Berroa with a two-out single off Kyle Nicolas in the eighth to push the margin to six.
The Bisons struck first in the opening frame thanks to a leadoff walk, stolen base and coinciding throwing error by catcher Dom Nuñez that put Lantigua at third base with no outs. Following a strikeout, Palmegiani hit a sacrifice fly. The 1-0 score held until Owings’ 11th home run of the season, which snapped Indianapolis’ (59-71, 26-30) season-high stretch of six games without a long ball.
Indy starter Cam Alldred, who allowed just one earned run in 5.0 one-hit innings on Tuesday, yielded one unearned run on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4.0 frames. Dombkowski (L, 0-1) took over in the fifth and gave up a leadoff double and stolen base to Cam Eden, who trotted home one out later on a game-tying single by Lantigua. He pitched around another leadoff double in the sixth by Palmegiani but couldn’t escape trouble in the decisive seventh and was charged with six earned runs on 10 hits in 3.0 innings of relief.
Buffalo right-hander Mitch White held the Indians to two earned runs in 5.0 innings pitched after throwing 5.0 shutout innings on Tuesday. Connor Cooke (W, 2-0) worked a hitless seventh to earn the win.
Domingo Leyba tallied three singles in the loss, accounting for half of Indy’s hits. Jared Triolo went 0-for-4 to snap his career-high 24-game on-game streak, and Malcom Nuñez and Aaron Shackelford went hitless to end their respective seven- and six-game hitting streaks.
The Indians return to Victory Field on Tuesday for the opener of a six-game set against the Toledo Mud Hens. First pitch is at 6:35 PM ET. Neither team has announced probable starting pitchers for the series.
Originally posted on milb.com