Bisons lose again

Buffalo, NY - The Buffalo Bisons started the second half of the 2009 season with a loss, falling to the Toledo Mud Hens 6-2 on Thursday Night from Coca-Cola Field.
The Mud Hens opened the scoring early, plating three runs in the first inning off Buffalo starter Tobi Stoner. Wilkin Ramirez continued his stellar play of late, crushing a two-run homer and giving Toledo the 2-0 advantage. In the month of July, the left fielder is hitting .442 with four home runs and 13 RBI. The Mud Hens plated two more runs in the fourth and another in the seventh.

Toledo starting pitcher Brooks Brown turned in a solid performance, winning his second game in his past three starts and improving his record to 3-7 in 2009. Brown went 6.2 innings giving up one run on seven hits, striking out four and walking two. The righty lost his first six starts of 2009, but his team only managed to score 1.16 runs per game in support during that stretch.

Buffalo starter Tobi Stoner was unable to build off of his last start, his best at the Triple-A level. The righty allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings in Buffalo's 1-0 victory against Pawtucket last Friday. On Thursday, Stoner hurled seven innings giving up six runs on eight hits, walking four and striking out six in the losing effort.

The Bisons scored in the seventh on a RBI double from Chip Ambres, plating Emil Brown from second. The Herd plated its second run in the bottom of the ninth when Nick Evans scored on a throwing error by Ryan Perry.

Thursday's contest also saw Bisons shortstop Javier Castillo's hitting streak come to an end. Entering the game, Castillo had mounted 16 consecutive games with a hit dating back to June 26th. It was the second longest active streak in the IL. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outfielder Todd Linden set the top hit streak in 2009 at 19 games.

With Thursday's win, Toledo improved its record to 37-10 in 2009 when scoring more than four runs in a game while Buffalo dropped its record to 7-44 when the team fails to drive in three or more in a game.

The Bisons and the Mud Hens will play the second game of the four-game set on Friday Night from Coca-Cola Field. Jon Niese is set to take the mound for the Herd. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35.