It ended at 10:02 p.m. on a groundout by Toronto's Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to Boston third baseman Rafael Devers.
Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4. Sellout crowd of 14,607 in Buffalo's Sahlen Field. July 21, 2021.
Those are merely the nuts and bolts for the history books because the Jays' last MLB game downtown in a two-season run meant far more than a couple lines on a stat sheet.
In their parent club's time of greatest need, the Blue Jays' Triple-A franchise and city were there to give them a home when a global pandemic kept them out of Canada.
What the Jays accomplished at Sahlen Field – unimaginable until the pandemic changed dynamics that long seemed fixed in place – gave Buffalo, already rich in baseball lore, an even more unique place in that heritage.
The "Thank You Buffalo" slogans have been atop the dugouts since the weekend, featuring the Blue Jays and Bisons' logos. They got lots of play on the scoreboard Wednesday night as well.
A simple "THANK YOU" was stenciled in the dirt behind home plate. Prior to the game, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro presented a $25,000 check to the Bisons Foundation that was accepted by Mike Buczkowski, president of Rich Baseball Operations.
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In the middle of the third, the Jays saluted Buffalo fans with a video and the players emerged from the dugout to tip their caps to the fans. The crowd -- both Boston and Toronto fans -- rose in a standing ovation.
Our home away from home. We'll always feel the BuffaLOVE 💙 pic.twitter.com/pUYCwHbxQV
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 22, 2021
"I thought it was a great idea to have us come out and thank the fans because it's been a good ride here," said Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo. "We're never gonna forget this was the place where we clinched the playoffs last year and we don't want to forget that. The crowds have been great and it was a great idea by our crew to go out and thank everybody."
It was a festive atmosphere all night. Shortly before the first pitch, the sound system was pounding Springsteen's "Glory Days" and Fogarty's "Rock and Roll Girls". You probably remember singing along to that one: "If I had my way, I'd shuffle off to Buffalo."
The Toronto Blue Jays will be moving out and construction crews will get to work retrofitting the park for the Buffalo Bisons' home opener Aug. 10 against Rochester.
The Blue Jays have shuffled here for 49 games the last two years. They went 17-9 and clinched the wild-card berth clinched here last September against the Yankees was their first postseason spot since 2016. They were only 12-11 here this season, with a 1-7 mark against Boston, Tampa Bay and New York really standing out in a negative way.
The Sox won both games here this week, blasting 11 home runs in the two games. They hit five Wednesday, with Kiki Hernandez's two-run laser to left in the third opening the scoring and back-to-back shots by J.D. Martinez and Hunter Renfroe providing breathing room in the eighth.
Robbie Ray (8-5), the winner in the Sahlen opener June 1 vs. Miami, was the loser this time. He gave up three homers in five innings.
"It was just consistency wasn't there tonight whether it was the fastball or the slider," Ray said. "I threw a really good one and then throw one that wasn't so good. That was the biggest thing. I felt my stuff was good for the most part."
"No secret to what just happened," Montoyo said. "We couldn't keep them in the ballpark."
The Blue Jays belted three longballs of their own, with Vladimir Guerrero going deep to right-center in the fourth for his 32nd of the season. George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez went back to back in the sixth to cut a 5-1 deficit to 5-4, but the Jays never got even.
Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits a home run against the Boston Red Sox during the fourth inning at Sahlen Field on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (News Staff Photographer)
Just before Guerrero's bolt, the Sportsnet broadcast across Canada zoomed in on a couple residents of the Marin Building across Washington Street watching the game from their top-floor windows, a Blue Jays banner hanging out in front of them.
Those two gents didn't count in the attendance, but the Blue Jays averaged 7,738 per opening, and don't forget that they were capacity-controlled at under 8,000 throughout June. Their figure is more than Tampa Bay (7,405), Oakland (6,861) and Miami (6,464) are averaging this season. The Jays' average was 10,941 for the last seven dates.
The message you get from the Toronto Blue Jays is consistent: No offense, Buffalo, but it's time to go home.
"I really didn't expect how many fans we'd have come out and how supportive they would be," closer Jordan Romano, the Jays' lone Ontario native, said before the game. "And even just kind of walking around town going out to eat, you see a lot of Blue Jays jerseys, hats. So that's something I definitely didn't expect, but it's really nice to see."
"I go outside and run and and that's when I find out what kind of fans we're going to get by what kind of jerseys they're wearing," said Montoyo, who has had an apartment across Washington Street from the ballpark during the Jays' stay. "That's why I knew it was gonna be kind of Boston, for fans the other day, but this place is great.
"What I like about what we did here is all our players have all they need to compete in a big-league game and it's a credit to the Blue Jays and the Buffalo front office and the ownership here for giving us such a great place to play."
On the day after he learned his team had received approval from the Canadian government to f…
The Jays, of course, can't wait to get home to Rogers Centre, and will finally do so after 670 days when they host Kansas City on July 30. The Bisons, meanwhile, return from Trenton, N.J., to resume play in Buffalo on Aug. 10.
Romano is one of several Jays who played with the Bisons as recently as 2019. It was the same field, but quite a different experience.
"I've played in Buffalo the last three years the majority of the time and I really liked the city," he said. "The fans are great – except when we have the Yankees and Boston come in and you get a lot of their fans – but for the most part, they're great. Loud and energetic. So I'll miss Buffalo, but I can't wait to go to Toronto."
As the fans filed out of the ballpark, Rogers Centre-turned-Sahlen Field public-address man Tim Langton went through a bevy of thank-yous. He ended it with a message to fans: "We hope to see you in Toronto."
The stadium sound system played a simple classic ballad, circa 1966, in honor of the Jays. The tune? Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound."
