head of the output returned from my command is being truncated

I am embedding an expect script in a bash script, thats why you see Bash variables.

Basically, whats happening is that the head of the output returned from my command is being truncated. if i run "ls /var/log" for example, its never cut off at the same place twice. I would really truly appreciate any input on how to fix this.

I tried adding the match_max, but that doesnt seem to have any effect. 

        match_max 9000
        set expect_out(buffer) {}

        expect {
                        "*#\ " {
                                if {${VERBOSE} == 1} { puts "${server}: verbose: Received output, parsing" }
                                set buffer [ split \$expect_out(buffer) '\n' ]
                                foreach line \$buffer {
                                
                                        switch -glob -- \$line {
                                                "bash*#\ " {  continue }
                                                "*root*#\ " { continue }
                                                {${COMMAND}} { continue }
                                                default      {puts "${server}: \$line" }
                                        } 
                                }
                                if {${VERBOSE} == 1} { puts "${server}: verbose: closing session" }
                                exit 0
                        }
                        timeout {
                                puts "${server}: error: pbrun: timeout while waiting for command output"
                                exit 1
                        }
                }