Photos by Aubrie Tolliver
SYRACUSE, N.Y. –
A cold night at NBT Bank Stadium kept the Syracuse Chiefs’ bats stiff against
the Buffalo Bisons. The Chiefs lost (9-17) 9-3 to Buffalo (17-11) for the
team’s fifth consecutive loss in May.
One Chiefs player who wasn’t stifled by the cold or the
Bisons was Brandon Snyder. He went 3-4 with two doubles and a two-run homerun.
Super Snyder
The first baseman put the Chiefs on the board in the first
with a double to center field that drove in Andrew Stevenson. After that
inning, the Chiefs did not lead for the rest of the game. Bisons catcher Raffy
Lopez hit a two-run shot to right field in the top of the 2nd
inning, giving Buffalo the 2-1 lead.
After a quiet inning, Snyder hit a double to right in the
bottom of the third, advancing Matt Skole to third. Those two were left on base
after the inning ended with a pop-up to second.
Lopez homered again in the fourth inning, this time it was
good for three runs. He was responsible for five of Buffalo’s nine runs. The
Bisons knocked in two more runs in the fifth for a 7-1 lead.
In the eighth inning Snyder came up with a big swing for a
two-run bomb into right field. The Las Vegas, N.V. native knocked in all three
of Syracuse’s runs. His late-game heroics weren’t enough to close the gap.
Buffalo scored two more runs on a throwing error in the ninth inning, sealing
the 9-3 win.
New Mindset
Snyder is batting .224 with 5 home runs and 18 RBIs this
season. He says the team’s recent losses sparked a change in his approach at
the plate.
“I think it’s more of a mindset because I’m just tired of
not competing and being the player that I know I am,” Snyder said. “The last
couple weeks we’ve been struggling and today I was like, ‘I’m just gonna go
back to trying to compete,’ and that was it.”
Personally, Snyder had a few adjustments of his own that he
kept in mind throughout the game.
“I went up there and in the same process of just trying to
compete, not swinging at bad pitches, trying to work good counts and just going
up there and trying to put together a good at bat,” he said.
Snyder also mentioned that the team got together and chatted
about changing some tactical elements of their play to turn some of those L’s
to W’s on the score sheet.
“I think that leaving Scranton it was kind of a team thing…
This is triple-A baseball and to a man, to myself, it was looking in the mirror
and saying, ‘Hey, stop being the guy that just goes out there and tries to
figure it out.’ If you haven’t figured it out by now, you might as well go
home.”
The tough words from Snyder are warranted after the team lost
five in a row and went 2-10 in the past two weeks, including tonight’s game.
Stopping Buffalo
Syracuse gave up nine runs and 13 hits against Buffalo. The
Chiefs only made one error, but there wasn’t much the team could do to stop the
Bisons’ bats according to Snyder.
“We had a couple balls that guys think we could’ve made
plays on, but for the most part they went out there and swung the bat well,
they got good pitches to hit, worked the count, and it just kind of is what it
is,” Snyder said.
He continued to say that the team as a whole needs to adjust
their mindset for each game in order to start winning.
“It’s about going out there and changing the mindset and I’m
tired of [losing]. Just need to go out there and try to compete,” Snyder said.
The six-foot-two first baseman was blunt in his thoughts on
the rest of the season.
“I think it’s time for us to just man up and play baseball.”
Next up the Chiefs take on Buffalo on Tuesday at 1:05 p.m.
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