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IL Buffalo Bisons

After Birthday Message from Family, Colon Homers Herd to Win

May 14, 2021 - International League (IL)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


The Buffalo Bisons defeated the Rochester Red Wings 5-2 Friday thanks to an emotional birthday home run from Christian Colon.

After a video from Colon's family was shown on the scoreboard wishing him a happy 32nd birthday Colon turned the tides on a 1-0 ballgame. He launched a fastball high in the zone over the left-field wall for a three-run home run to give the Bisons a 3-1 lead they would never relinquish.

"That was so special," said Colon. "We have been through a lot as a family and it's hard sometimes to sacrifice. But seeing them, I definitely was crying, you know, I was trying to hide it, trying to breathe and I'm praying that I didn't get a ground ball."

While it might have been some birthday magic, Colon has been mashing for the Bisons this season with 10 RBIs and three home runs in six starts.

The Bisons' starter Jacob Waguespack also gave Colon a birthday gift pitching 6.1 innings, striking out seven and giving up just four hits and a pair of runs to earn the win.

After the Red Wings took a 1-0 lead on a first inning home run from Luis Garcia, Waguespack was brilliant. He overmatched batters with a series of sliders and changeups. He had Red Wings batters backing up further and further off the plate with every slider on the inside of the plate.

"I threw inside there a lot more, just so I could create more uncomfortable at-bats for them," said Waguespack.

Waguespack's strong performance comes after a less than stellar start last week giving up five runs in just four innings against the Worcester Red Sox.

Red Wings' starter Sean Nolin, a former member of the Buffalo Bisons, went opposite Waguespack and started the game sharp as well striking out the first five Bisons' batters, three of them looking, using a looping curveball and high inside fastball.

"Their pitcher was doing a good job mixing in some pitches early on," said Colon.

However, there was a learning curve for the Bisons' batters against Nolin. As the game went on, they began to gather more and more base runners, two in the third and two in the second, until Colon broke the game open with his home run.

"He was doing some funky things on the mound," said Colon. "But we just knew at some point we're going to get to him and get some good at-bats going."

Nolin ended up only pitching four innings and struck out eight. After he was removed the Bisons' bats began to heat up.

Forrest Wall started the fifth inning with a leadoff triple and was brought home by a bloop single to right field from Breyvic Valera, his 13th RBI in nine starts. The Bisons loaded the bases following Valera's single and Riley Adams brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Bisons a 5-2 lead into the sixth.

Dany Jimenez got the ball for the eighth and gave the Bisons a scare loading the bases with no outs. Jimenez ultimately found his footing and struck out two batters and induced a fly out to end the inning.

Despite restrictions on fan attendance at Trenton Thunder Ballpark the Bisons' players fed off the crowd that was up and hollering.

"You feed off the energy when you play at home," said Colon. "Today it was awesome, you know. There were a bunch of guys right next to the on-deck circle and was fun, you know, it was fun to see the fans."

With the win, the Bisons have won their third consecutive game after dropping the first game of the series against the Red Wings.

The Bisons (7-3) and Red Wings (2-8) will play again Saturday night for game five of the six-game series. The first pitch is expected for 6:30 p.m.

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