Rochester, MN – The Waterloo Bucks (4–6) led for most of their game on Wednesday evening, but fell short in the late innings in their loss to the Rochester Honkers (8–2), 5–4.

This is the now the fourth consecutive time the Honkers have defeated the Bucks this season, including their sweep in the season-opening series in Waterloo.

The Bucks were up by two runs at multiple points in the game, and both times the Honkers fought back to tie the game. Honkers took the lead in the seventh inning on an RBI-single into left field from Jakob Guardado that sent Alec Gomez in to score from second base.

Bucks starting pitcher Patrick Mastrian kept his team up for most of the game until the Honkers finally got to him in the seventh inning. This is now the second time this season that Mastrian stayed on the bump until the seventh inning.

Two newly activated players for the Bucks, Aaron Ujimori and Christian Smith, both managed to get two hits and record an RBI in their first starts of 2023.

The Bucks will now cut across Minnesota for a series agains the St. Cloud Rox. Game one on Thursday is set for a 6:35pm first pitch.