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Place Jonathon Niese firmly in the first category after his performance Friday night. The Buffalo Bisons lefthander, fresh off two appearances with the New York Mets, allowed single runs in the first three innings before being barraged for six more in the fourth by the Columbus Clippers.

Needless to say, the Clippers coasted to a 10-4 win as Niese, who yielded 12 hits in all, was pulled after allowing a walk and four straight hits with two out in the fourth frame.

“He was awful,” was the blunt assessment from Herd manager Ken Oberkfell. “He didn’t locate his pitches.”

“I’m getting back into the routine again,” said Niese, who missed a start due to illness, but still had his earned run average balloon from 6.55 to 8.06. “I just have to keep working.”

As for the fourth-inning collapse, Oberkfell said: “It was bang-bang-bang-bang, real quick, everything happened. He got frustrated out there and he wasn’t getting the ball where he wanted.”

Overall, the 10 runs and 16 hits allowed by the Herd were both season-highs.

In dropping the first two games of this four-game set against Columbus, the Bisons have now lost six of their last seven. For a team with a 10-29 record, this set could actually become their biggest disappointment of the season.

The franchise had to have circled these dates on its calendar; the Clippers, after all, are last year’s Bisons. And Columbus, winners of five straight, may have come to town on a roll, but they are also clearly looking to show the fans in Buffalo what they once had.

“I’m sure (the players) have some personal motivation,” Clippers manager Torey Lovullo said. “There’s no extra motivation for me to say I beat the Buffalo Bisons. They have a quality team that’s just not playing well.”

Strangely, the current Bisons squad don’t see any reason to ramp up their game.

“There isn’t much talk,” Niese said. “It’s not like we’re out there thinking this is last year’s Bisons club and we need to beat them to prove a point. There isn’t any point to be proven. Sometimes we fall short and sometimes we win. We have to compete each day.”

“I’m sure it’s fun for (Columbus) right now,” Oberkfell said. “We have two more games this series. We just have to go out and play fundamental baseball. We haven’t done that the last couple of games.”

In fact, Columbus had six different occasions in the first four innings where they advanced a runner on a ground out. They even scored their first run on such a play, when Travis Hafner drove in Michael Brantley on a grounder to the shortstop.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our approach,” Lovullo said. “Situational hitting is the difference between wins and losses. There was no mystery as to why we got off to an early lead.”

Power didn’t hurt, either. Hafner, continuing his rehab assignment, hit a solo homer in the third, Chris Gimenez bombed a three-run shot in the fourth, and Andy Marte hit a leadoff four-bagger in the ninth.

The Bisons finally got their first run – and a big Bronx cheer from a Coca-Cola Field crowd announced at 9,166 – in the fifth inning. Jesus Feliciano drew a one-out walk and scored on a sharp single by Argenis Reyes.

Buffalo rallied for three more in the seventh, getting a two-run single from Fernando Martinez. Corey Sullivan also scored on a wild pitch.

………

Nick Evans, who was finally sent to Double-A Binghamton after his 7-for-75 start with Buffalo, made his first appearance for the Bingo Mets in their 3-1 loss to New Britain.

Evans played first base and went 1-for-4, accounting for the Mets’ only run with a leadoff homer in the fourth inning.

The Herd’s transaction list was active again on Friday, as Mike Antonini – who lost Thursday’s series opener – was sent back to Binghamton. Nelson Figueroa was shipped back to Buffalo by New York after not pitching during this most recent eight-day stint with the Mets.

………

During the game, the Bisons announced they have added fireworks to three Saturday home dates.

The first one, on June 6 against Indianapolis, has the added attraction of being “dollar dog” night. The second, on July 18 against Toledo, coincides with the Bisons’ annual Home Run Derby. The final one, on August 15 against Lehigh Valley, is also Cap Night.