Bisons win 11-0 in first game in Buffalo in nearly 2 years

With Bisons baseball finally returning to downtown Buffalo after 711 days away, the 2021 Herd did its best to ensure that the nearly two-year absence was well worth the wait.

In one of the most anticipated home openers in Sahlen Field history -if not at least the longest anticipated one- the Bisons trounced the rival Red Wings, 11-0, Tuesday night in front of a boisterous crowd of 6,404. Buffalo outhit Rochester, 12-2, and picked up the necessary game in the standings to finally pull into a virtual tie with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for first place in the Northeast division.

Logan Warmoth went 3-4 with the first Buffalo home run of the season and Forrest Wall reached base five times as the club seemed to threaten each and every time they came to the plate. Seven different Bisons batters drove in runs in the win.

Warmoth’s home run was a towering shot in the fourth inning that gave the Herd total control of the game. After singling in the second inning on a curveball from Rochester starter, Luis Reyes, the outfielder made no mistake when he saw a similar off-speed pitch in his second at-bat. With a pair of runners on base, Warmoth’s seventh home run of the season made the score 5-0 and set the tone for the rest of an unforgettable night at the ballpark.

Buffalo needed just three batters to take their initial lead in the contest. Wall led off the first with an eight-pitch at-bat that would’ve been a walk had Reyes’ full count offering not hit him in the back foot. After a passed ball and a groundout, Wall scored easily from third when Kevin Smith hit the first of three Bisons triples on the night for his club-best 56th RBI of the season.

On the very next pitch, Richard Urena lined a single off the glove of Red Wings shortstop Jecksson Flores for an RBI single into left.

Warmoth’s home run was part of a four-run fourth that included an RBI-single from Tyler White, who then knocked in another run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to give the Herd a 7-0 advantage.

Buffalo then scored four more times in the seventh thanks in large part to two more triples. Playing in his first Sahlen Field game, Otto Lopez tripled to right-center to score a pair of runs.

Wall then completed his perfect night at the plate with an RBI double to left center to give Buffalo the 11-0 lead.

Wall’s box score-filling night included a hit by pitch, two walks, a double, a triple, a stolen base and two runs scored.

The only real surprise of the night came on the mound as Anthony Kay was scratched from the start moments before first pitch. Herd skipper Casey Candaele said the southpaw felt some back tightness while warming up for the game. Jacob Waguespack, who earned the win in the Bisons 2019 home opener against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, filled in and allowed just one hit over 3.2 innings of work to start the five-arm, two-hit shutout.

Included in the relief work was the two newest Bisons, Kyle Johnston and Fitz Stadler, who were both promoted to the team on Monday from Double-A New Hampshire. Johnston retired all six batters he faced while Stadler struck out a pair in a scoreless eighth inning.

Travis Bergen capped the fourth Home Opener shutout in Sahlen Field history when he struck out Derek Dietrich to end the game.

The last time the Bisons earned a shutout in their home opener was a 4-0 win over the Red Wings on April 10, 1998.