Early returns make Sahlen Field a big-league bandbox for home runs

A key theme that developed on their first homestand: Will baseballs keep rocketing over the fence at Sahlen Field?

There were 25 home runs in the first five big-league games downtown, including 17 by Toronto. The Jays hit 13 in consecutive games against Miami and Tampa Bay, setting a franchise record for longballs in consecutive outings. Now, Phillies sluggers Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto hit town with the game's best offense to take their swings.

Said Miami manager and former Yankees star Don Mattingly, who had never been to the park: "It played really small to left and really big to right. If the wind is blowing out at all, this is gonna be some kind of bandbox."

Teoscar Hernandez and Bo Bichette led the Blue Jays with three home runs apiece over the five games in Buffalo. Rowdy Tellez had two, including a 443-shot that was the first big-league homer Bisons officials marked off in the right-field parking lot. In their 14-11, 10-inning loss to Miami on Aug. 12, the Blue Jays belted seven home runs – and became the first team in MLB history to go deep in six consecutive innings and still lose the game.

Rowdy Tellez is just the third player to have multiple 'Parking Lot Homers' at Sahlen Field, joining Russell Branyan (3) and Brad Snyder (2). #ParkingLotPower 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/nTaGH8zv21

— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) August 14, 2020

Sahlen Field has long been considered a strong pitchers' park during April and May, when the cold winds blow off Lake Erie and generally prove ruinous to left-handed hitters trying to take the ball out to right field.

But as the weather heats up, most players say there's plenty of carry in the outfield. On warm nights with a wind, any ball hit to left field seems to explode if it's hit straightaway from the first light tower to the foul pole.

"Mr. Mattingly played a long time, but I don't think he played in Buffalo as long as I have," said Tellez, who played 260 games for the Bisons from 2017-2019. "This stadium is not the easiest place to hit in, especially for a left-handed hitter. The first night, you can hit balls in the air to left field and when it's blowing like it does, those are easy homers. The second night when we hit all those home runs, that's not normal. There's not many Buffalo days like that."

The dimensions at Sahlen Field still remain major league, even though they were pulled in from alley to alley – by as much as 17 feet in right-center field – at the behest of the then-parent Cleveland Indians for the 1996 season. Since then, they have essentially mimicked the distances of Cleveland's Progressive Field. 

Last year, however, Triple-A baseball changed to the MLB ball and it seemed to make a huge difference in home run totals. In 2018, the Bisons went deep 49 times at home and allowed 51. But in 2019, the combined home run total for the Herd and its opponents jumped from 100 to 182 – including a ballpark-record 111 for Buffalo opponents. In the previous 10 seasons, opponents had averaged just 55 home runs and never hit more than 69 in a season.

Baseball America rated Buffalo as third-best among the 14 International League parks to hit home runs in last season, behind only Charlotte and Columbus. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, who played and managed for nine seasons as an opponent in Buffalo, is surprised to see all the home runs.

"The ball flies everywhere now in the big leagues to tell you the truth," Montoyo said Wednesday from Baltimore prior to the Jays' series finale. "But if you make the pitches and keep the ball down, you'll keep it in the ballpark. If you pitch behind in the count, you'll give up home runs and we all know that."

"I said, 'We need to check the baseballs or something because the balls are just flying out of here,' " reliever Anthony Bass added Wednesday. "One thing that was good to see is I really feel Buffalo got our offense clicking. I heard it's a pretty fair ballpark. ... The seven homers in a game is not very normal for Buffalo from what guys who have pitched there before have said."

Pearson to IL

Top pitching prospect Nate Pearson felt tightness in his right elbow during his outing Tuesday night in Baltimore and is going on the Injured List.

"He's going to go on the IL and we'll go from there and see where he is," Montoyo said on his daily Zoom call with reporters. "Last night he let us know that he was feeling tight. The good news is that he was feeling better this morning. But of course, he's one of our big prospects so we decided to put him on the IL."

Pearson, 23, is considered one of the top young arms in all of baseball after rocketing through the minors in 2019 and getting to Buffalo at the end of the season. But he has struggled in his first tour of the big leagues this year, particularly with his fastball command, as he has no decisions in his four outings with a 6.61 earned-run average. Montoyo said it's unclear if Pearson, who has 14 strikeouts and 12 walks in 16 1/3 innings, will be going for an MRI on his elbow.

The Blue Jays have called up Jacob Waguespack to replace Pearson and Trent Thornton is coming off the IL to rejoin the rotation. Pearson's trip to the IL means he's likely out of the loop to pitch here next week, when the Jays host Boston and Baltimore.

Montoyo said Thornton and Chase Anderson will be the starting pitchers in Thursday's 1:05 doubleheader.