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Taking the hill for the ninth time this season, early on, it appeared that Figueroa would once again fail to receive any offensive support to help him on his way to a victory.

As the game progressed, the only glaring mistake of the day came in the sixth inning when the Indians Garrett Jones was at the dish and smoked a low fastball over the right field wall served up by Figueroa, putting Indy up 1-0.

“Yeah, I made the mistake to Jones, because in a nothing-nothing game I didn’t want to walk him to then give up a two run home run. I tried to make a good pitch there and I left the ball over the plate, and he did what he did with it.”

Striking out the next batter, Figueroa ended the top of the sixth inning in a familiar position, on the potential losing end of another quality start.

When the Herd came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, with one down and Bison Cory Sullivan on base after reaching on an error, Michel Abreu stepped up and stroked his fourth home run of the season off of Indians pitcher Jeremy Powell. Putting the Herd up 2-1, the replacement player for Wily Mo Pena, Abreu came through offensively for both a team and pitcher that desperately needed runs.

“After that, once I have a little bit of a lead I can go after hitters and challenge them a little bit more again and try minimize my pitch count and try and get outs as quickly as I can,” Figueroa said.

Manager Ken Oberkfell commented on the game, “He got two runs today,” he said laughing, “He’s been throwing the ball great and he threw the ball great again today and Abreu came in and got a big clutch two run homer.”

While Nelson Figueroa (2-4) had a successful outing for the Bisons, getting his second consecutive win on the season, Wily Mo Pena saw his thirteen game hitting streak come to an end.

After a quick three pitch strike out for his first at bat, Pena came to the plate again in the fourth inning. He fouled off a few pitches and immediately began showing signs of discomfort.

Stepping out of the box with an 0-2 count, Pena was looked at by trainer Brian Chicklo after attempting a few practice swings. The brief conference with trainer and player resulted in Pena’s slow, methodical walk back to the Bisons dugout, making it evident that both his day and hit streak had come to an abrupt end. For the day, he went 0-2 with two strikes outs.

Oberkfell stated “I guess his back flared up a little bit, I think it flared up in his first at bat and he tried to keep going, but you could tell he wasn’t feeling it.”

Since the streak started on May 25th, Pena, who is listed as day-to-day, had batted .308, going 17 for 54, belting three home runs and racking up eight RBIs. Prior to the beginning of the streak, Pena was hitting a measly .200 and over the course of the past thirteen games, has increased his average by .52 points, giving him a serviceable .252.

Figueroa ended his day with seven strike outs, one walk and one earned run in seven innings pitched, while closer Elmer Dessens shut down the Indianapolis Indians, earning his eighth save on the season.

With the win for the Herd, the Buffalo Bisons improved to 17-38 and will face the Indians Tuesday for a night cap to a four-game series before a league wide day off.