BUFFALO — It just wasn’t Clay Buchholz’s night.

Ryan Mulhern went 2-for-4 and Joe Inglett (2-for-3) had four RBI to the lead Buffalo Bisons to a 7-6 win over Pawtucket in front of 10,586 fans at Dunn Tire Park last night.

A sandwich pick (42nd overall) in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Buchholz is rated by Baseball America as the top pitching and No. 2 overall prospect in the Boston chain.

Promoted to Pawtucket on July 12, Buchholz didn’t have to wait long for his first taste of major-league action as he made his Fenway Park debut on Aug. 17 in the Red Sox’ 8-4 win over Los Angles Angels. Buchholz logged six innings, struck out five and yielded three earned runs on eight hits.

But he wasn’t anywhere near as effective last night against the Bisons.

Relying mostly on his curve and fastball, Buchholz struggled with his command all night, especially in the first inning when he issued back-to-back walks to Keith Ginter and Andy Marte to load the bases.

Buchholz did manage to work out of the jam when he induced a first-pitch popup to Bisons catcher Mike Rose.

The Bisons (69-61) did score one run in the first when Mulhern’s RBI double brought Inglett home. Reaching base on a hit-by-pitch Iglett advanced to second base when Buchholz’s (1-2) pick-off attempt sailed beyond the reach of first baseman Jeff Bailey.

A strikeout pitcher, Buchholz never found his normal groove and his breaking pitches seemed to hang over the plate more frequently than usual. It was something the Bisons took full advantage of.

Buchholz (three strikeouts) lasted just three innings, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk. He threw 63 pitches, 36 for strikes.

While lackluster offense early on didn’t help Pawtucket (62-68), the Bisons received timely hitting as they plated each of their first three runs with two outs.

Bisons starter Jeremy Sowers (4-5), who was pitching on his own Bobblehead night, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced — shortstop Jed Lowrie drew a walk in the first — before catcher George Kottaras broke up the no-hit bid with a single to left field.

Junior Spivey drove Kottaras in when he sent Sowers’ 2-0 offering over the left-field wall for his first home run of the season, trimming the Bisons’ lead to 3-2.

Inglett extended the margin to 6-2 in the sixth when he stroked a bases-clearing triple to right field off Craig Breslow.

The PawSox kept it exciting as they mounted two late-inning rallies. The first came in the seventh when Sowers walked Kottaras to load the bases after back-to-back singles by Jeff Bailey and Bobby Scales, but they were unable to push a run across the plate. In the ninth, Lowrie cracked a three-run shot off of Bisons reliever Jason Stanford to trim the lead to 7-6, but the rally stalled there.

“We had a really poor night situational (hitting),” said PawSox manager Ron Johnson. “That’s why you play 27 outs, because you never know. We got that big three-run homer. … We had enough opportunities, we had enough hits, but if we put the ball in play, it’s probably a different ballgame.”

“Sowers stymied us for five innings. Spivey had the homer, so we put some pressure on them. But you’ve got to get them across.”