Bisons Get Iron Piged

The Bisons are fresh off a 1-3 series against the Iron Pigs and have some new faces on the team.

Gone are Andy LaRoche and Josh Thole. Congrats to the pair for earning their way onto the Major League roster. I expect good things from the duo, and hope Thole can help carry some of the load that J.P. Arencibia is having some difficulty carrying.

Coming to the Herd are Sean Ochinko, coming up from AA New Hampshire, and Anthony Gose. Gose is returning from Toronto where he was used sparingly and was no longer needed when Rajai Davis came off the DL.

Ochinko is a 26-year-old catcher who was an 11th round draft pick in 2009. He is hitting .243/.329/.375 with 2 HR in 144 PA. He should share time with Mike Nickeas.

Also new to the roster: Todd Redmond, Chad Jenkins, and Brad Lincoln. All three are decently demoted, with Lincoln coming down after 4 great innings in the 18 inning Saturday game. He will be replaced in the Majors by someone to be determined.

Dustin McGowan was called up by the Blue Jays from his rehab assignment, replacing Redmond. McGowan will be back in the Majors for the first time since 2011. I wish him the best.

Jenkins was thought to go back to Toronto when his turn in the rotation came around. His spot appears to have been given to Chien-Ming Wang, who was recently released from his minor league contract with the Yankees. He should be starting Tuesday.

Onto the recaps.

Game 1: Pigs 4, Bisons 0

The damage was done early off of Thad Weber, who made the start for the Bisons. Cody Overbeck delivered the offense early with a 2nd inning HR and hit another in the 4th, which was a 2-run HR.

Mickey Storey allowed the 4th run to score on a double in the 5th inning.

Dustin McGowan made an appearance, giving up a hit and a walk in his inning.

Multi-hit games from Mike McCoy (2-4, 2B) and Eugenio Velez (3-5, 2B, SB).

Game 2: Pigs 5, Bisons 3

Chad Jenkins made his Bisons debut and was not sharp. He gave up all 5 runs in his 5 innings. After 2 quick innings, he gave up a 3rd inning lead-off walk and gave up a 2-run HR to Michael Martinez. He gave up 2 more runs on 3 hits in the 4th and another in the 5th after Jenkins allowed the bases to be loaded with 0 outs. He was lucky to have gotten out of the inning when he did.

Mauro Gomez hit a 7th inning HR, his 15th of the season, to start a comeback. They would score 2 more in the 8th inning to get within striking distance. They would fail to come back.

Dustin McGowan pitched on back-to-back days, giving up 2 hits in his inning.

There were no multi-hit games from any of the hitters.

Game 3: Pig 3, Bisons 4

Game 1 of a double header was started by Ricky Romero and he was pretty good until the 6th inning. He had a shutout until he started getting hit hard. He gave up his 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk in the 6th. John Stilson came on to bail him out and pitched a shaky 7th with an error and a walk.

The Bisons runs came off a Negrych double in the 4th, a Gose double in the 5th, a Luis Jimenez HR in the 6th, and a McCoy single in the 6th.

There were no multi-hit games for the offense. Jimenez's HR was his 13th of the season.

Game 4: Pigs 4, Bisons 0

The bats were really cold in this one, with only 3 hits in this one for the Herd.

Sean Ochinko made his debut and was 0-2. The hits came from Gose, Goins, and Gomez.

Justin Germano had a decent start, allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, in 6 innings.

Dustin McGowan made his MLB return on Saturday to complete his comeback story. He pitched to 4 batters. He walked a batter, had a batter reach via error, and hit a batter before getting a strikeout. He was removed from the game and Juan Perez bailed him out. He received a very warm reception from the Toronto crowd.