First baseman Mauro Gomez hit the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth to win the game 4-3 over the New York Mets' AAA farm team Buffalo Bisons and the extended their winning streak to three games.
After losing four of the first five on this eight game homestand, the Gwinnett Braves went into Monday's game with the Buffalo Bison's on a 2-game winning streak. After going 27 scoreless innings last week, the bats finally came alive in the last two games. And on Monday, the bats got eight hits but they made them count and extended their winning streak to three games.
Buffalo got on the scoreboard first in the second inning as Luis Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to score Fernando Martinez, who singled and moved to third on a double by Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
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Gwinnett took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Jose Constanza led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and scored when Stefan Gartrell belted his 12th home run of the year. The home run was his fourth in the last three days and 11th since joining the club.
The Bisons again tied the score up at 2-2 when Raul Chavez reached on an error by Julio Lugo. After Chavez moved to third on a sacrifice, he scored on a solid single by Luis Figueroa.
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But the Braves went ahead again in the fifth 3-2. Brandon Hicks got hit by a pitch, went to third on a single by J.C. Boscan and scored when pinch hitter Daniel Nelson laid down a perfect bunt single for the RBI.
The lead again didn't last long as Nieuwenhuis hit a 1-out double and scored on a broken bat single by Hernandez to tie it at 3-3.
That led up tot he dramatic ending. "I was looking for that pitch and I got it," Said Gomez through a translater. "This one was more fun than the one at Turner Field." Gomez hit a walk off home run in the last exhibition game at Turner Field before the season began against the Minnesota Twins.
"I thought, 'wow the ball game is over,'" said manager Dave Brundage. "We played well tonight and it was back and forth but we had our entire bullpen tonight and I thought they all played well."
Jason Chapman picked up his first win of the season pitching a scoreless ninth inning. The Braves will be on the road after going 4-4 on the homestand and will travel to play the Toledo Mud Hens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.
