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The Herd entered Saturday night’s home game against the Durham Bulls tied with the fifth-best fielding percentage in the International League. It didn’t matter much as the Bisons committed two errors in the ninth inning of a 7-2 loss, helping Durham score five times to snap a 2-2 tie.

“It was a pretty ugly inning,” Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell said. “These guys are supposedly Triple-A baseball players. They have to make those plays. It was tough to watch.”

Tim McNab (2-1) suffered the loss, but didn’t allow any earned runs. Henry Mateo, after legging out a one-out infield single, stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw by catcher Luis Rivera.

After a walk, John Jaso’s grounder was botched by first baseman Michel Abreu, who was brought in as a defensive replacement. Abreu might have had a play at home, but Mateo scored easily while Jaso reached safely too.

Oberkfell explained his decision to use Abreu instead of Wily Mo Pena at the start of the inning: “I was trying to put my best defensive lineup out there. I’m not sure it was.”

One out later, Durham broke the game open with back-to-back RBI singles by Rhyne Hughes and Rashad Eldredge and a two-run triple by Ray Olmedo.

“That’s the thing you dread as a pitcher,” said Bisons starter Nelson Figueroa about McNab’s tough luck. “It’s a team loss, but it goes next to your name. Did he deserve it? Absolutely not. He’s come into games, thrown two pitches and got a win. It’s baseball: it giveth and taketh away.”

Added Oberkfell: “It was a good game until the top of the ninth.”

Overall, the Bisons committed four miscues, tying a season high (also done against Indianapolis four days prior). The first one enabled Durham to tie the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning. Second baseman Jonathan Malo misfired as Mateo was going to third on a triple; the errant throw enabled Mateo to score.

Buffalo scored its runs in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Chip Ambres and a run-scoring ground out by Rene Rivera.

………

Figueroa didn’t have a chance to get a decision despite posting one of his strongest starts.

He fanned nine to tie a club season-high and threw 126 pitches, easily the most by a Herd hurler in recent memory.

“My whole year in Mexico (in 2007), I was going 130 and above. I’m stretched out enough that I feel like I can do it every outing. Whether it’s safe for me to do it is the manager’s decision.”

Figueroa left with two down in the seventh, a runner on second and the score tied 2-2. Lefthanded reliever Adam Bostick nearly got Figueroa an undeserved loss, as he walked the next two batters on eight straight pitches to load the bases before getting an inning-ending fly out.

Figueroa was the third Bison to record nine K’s, following Casey Fossum on April 17 at Syracuse and Brandon Knight on May 3 against Louisville.

………

The Bisons have yet one more opportunity, on Sunday afternoon at 1:05, to get a third win in the series against Durham. A victory would assure Buffalo of a series win against the Bulls and would also give the Herd only its second series victory of the season. The Bisons took two of three in a rain-shortened set at Norfolk on June 2-4.

………

Word from New York is that Fernando Martinez, the promising Mets outfielder who was promoted after batting .291 with eight homers for the Bisons, may be getting a return ticket to Buffalo.

F-Mart raised his batting average from .186 to .234 after going 3-of -4 against the Yankees on Saturday, but may still be the caught in a numbers game after this Thursday. That’s when the Mets play their last road interleague game; it also marks Martinez’ final opportunity to be a designated hitter.