Buffalo Bisons designated hitter Gabriel Moreno bats against Lehigh Valley during the third inning at Sahlen Field on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.
The gash in the left-field wall from Gabriel Moreno's line drive on Wednesday night is visible at the top of the fan's left hand. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
The hole that remains in the left-field wall at Sahlen Field got a temporary tape patch Thursday morning. The story behind it is bound to last a long time in the strange-but-true annals of Buffalo's downtown ballpark.
Since the place opened in 1988, we've had lots of oddities. There have been games postponed by wind or power failure or delayed by fog off Lake Erie, the seagull killed by a thrown ball during a 16-inning game in 2006, a wind-blown tarp flying into the third-base stands before the gates opened one night in the '90s, and last year's delay when Trenton bat dog Rookie decided to cavort on the field in the middle of play.
But Wednesday night, in the ninth inning of a long-lost, 15-4 defeat at the hands of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Bisons catcher Gabriel Moreno unleashed a mighty swing that created a bizarre moment no one on hand had ever seen.
Moreno launched a low line drive that careened through the air at 111 mph –- and smashed through an advertising banner for the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino's sports lounge. It lodged in the wall, atop the hand of a pictured fan with his arms in the air, and was initially ruled a home run before Lehigh Valley left fielder Chris Sharpe pointed it out in the wall and umpires properly changed the call to a ground-rule double.
"I was thinking that's a homer because that's what the umpire said first so I kept running," Moreno told The Buffalo News when he returned to the park Thursday morning for the teams' matinee. "But when I looked, the left fielder is pointing and the ball is in the wall. I was just thinking, 'Wow.' I couldn't believe it."
"With the white background where it landed I honestly just heard a thud and didn't know where it went," a laughing Sharpe told The News on Thursday. "I looked a little closer and saw a little bit of the ball sticking out there. I just put my arms up so they could see it was stuck and played it safe. Even when I went to go get it, it looks like I pushed it in there a little bit but it was lodged. I could not get that thing out."
Excuse us... WHAT!?!?!Gabriel Moreno hit this ball so hard it stuck IN the wall! 🤯🤯🤯 @BlueJays | #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/myIz7bNTmu
Video of the play has gone viral. It appeared on ESPN's SportsCenter and its "Get Up" morning show, as well as on MLB Network. Moreno, 22, is the Blue Jays' No. 1 prospect, so Sportsnet hopped on the play as well. In the moment, Bisons' play-by-play man Pat Malacaro and analyst Duke McGuire had it called correctly, with Malacaro instantly saying "that ball is stuck in the pads."
The Bisons' video of the play has 131,000 views and more than 3,100 likes on the team's official Twitter feed. The team has a still picture from the video clip showing the ball lodged in the wall as its new Twitter avatar. The video was then sent out by MLBPipeline, baseball's Twitter home for draft and prospect coverage. It was pushing 800,000 views on that feed by the time the teams resumed their series Thursday afternoon.
A hole in the left field padding left from a double by Buffalo Bisons catcher Gabriel Moreno against Lehigh Valley at Sahlen Field on August, 17, 2022. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
"When I saw what happened, I was like, 'Oh bleep.' I don't know how the ball stuck in the wall," said Moreno, who pushed his batting average to .301 with the double. "I knew I hit it hard and I was thinking it could be a homer but it stayed low and hit the wall and then that happened. I just want to hit the ball hard on the barrel. That's what I've been thinking about all year."
"Just a freak play. I've never seen it anywhere in baseball," said Sharpe, who screen-grabbed a clip of himself in the video on his phone. "I put my phone down last night to go to bed and a minute later I got like 20 buzzes in a row from buddies going "Hey, look at this, look at this.' Most people are seeing a guy hitting a ball 111 into the wall and then the announcer (Malacaro) says, 'Chris Sharpe is putting his arms up' and my friends are all like this is pretty funny.
"I didn't even touch the ball when it was active and I'm getting my name out there for not doing anything really. Pretty cool. Definitely a weird experience."
The Bisons' promotion Wednesday saw fans allowed on the field to play catch after the game and the team said an unidentified fan hoisted his young son on his shoulders to grab the ball out of the wall for a souvenir. The Bisons put yellow "caution" tape around the hole Thursday morning to take some pictures for social media before removing it for the game.
Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime, starring Gabriel Moreno! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/VFZq1y5KSF
Moreno said he got the requisite needling you might expect from teammates.
"I heard a lot of guys say 'Oh wow, never seen that before,' Moreno said. "I think everybody was impressed."
With a day game after a night game, Moreno was not in the Bisons' lineup for Thursday's 5-4 win over the IronPigs. So what did the team tweet prior to the game in announcing the starters?
"Someone put a hole in the wall yesterday so they had to sit this one out."
someone put a hole in the wall yesterday so they had to sit this one out😉 pic.twitter.com/YE829LtGrZ
Herd rallies late to snare victory
The Bisons won Thursday's game by overcoming a 4-3 deficit at the seventh-inning stretch. Outfielder Chavez Young belted a solo home run to left in the bottom of the seventh to get Buffalo even and catcher Stevie Berman plated the winning run on a sacrifice fly to deep right with one out in the bottom of the eighth.
Leadoff man Otto Lopez led the Buffalo offense with three hits and scored two runs. Five pitchers combined on a five-hitter, with Kyle Johnston earning the win and Matt Gage tossing a hitless ninth for his 12th save.
The Bisons (61-52) remained 3 1/2 games behind Durham in the International League East as the Bulls won at Norfolk, 10-4. Buffalo leads the series against Lehigh Valley, 2-1, and it continues here Friday night at 7:05 with Herd ace Casey Lawrence (9-4) scheduled to start. He's bidding to become the first Buffalo pitcher with 10 wins since Scott Copeland had 11 in 2015.
Buffalo Bisons player Chavez Young watches a home run against Lehigh Valley during the seventh inning at Sahlen Field on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
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"You could tell coming to the stadium there's a lot of activity out there," Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jordan Romano said. "People want to watch a ballgame and enjoy it with the family. It's a special day. When we were in Buffalo, it just didn't feel right spending Canada Day not here. You really appreciate being back."
Buffalo Bisons designated hitter Gabriel Moreno bats against Lehigh Valley during the third inning at Sahlen Field on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.
A hole in the left field padding left from a double by Buffalo Bisons catcher Gabriel Moreno against Lehigh Valley at Sahlen Field on August, 17, 2022. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
The gash in the left-field wall from Gabriel Moreno's line drive on Wednesday night is visible at the top of the fan's left hand. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
Buffalo Bisons player Chavez Young watches a home run against Lehigh Valley during the seventh inning at Sahlen Field on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
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