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Greg Allen got the RailRiders’ season started with a bang — and there were no shortage of fireworks to follow from the rest of the lineup.
Allen led off Friday’s opener with a home run out to left field, and the RailRiders offense exploded for 13 hits — three of those homers — in a 12-9 win over the Buffalo Bisons at Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
Ten of those 12 runs came across the fourth and fifth innings as the RailRiders overcame a rough day from starter Will Warren to jump on the Bisons’ bullpen.
On just the fourth pitch of the game, Allen gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre their first lead of the year. That lead would not last long, however, as the Bisons knocked around Warren in the home half of the first.
In all, Warren was charged with five earned runs while recording just one out before Josh Maciejewski came on in relief.
The Bisons turned to Ricky Tiedemann, the No. 1 ranked prospect in the Blue Jays system, to start the game. Aside from the leadoff homer, Tiedemann looked strong in his season debut, throwing 2.2 innings and giving up just the one run.
With a short hook on Tiedemann, however, the Bisons’ relievers weren’t quite as effective at quieting the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre bats.
In the fourth with the RailRiders trailing 5-1, Caleb Durbin knocked a two-run double into left, and Carlos Narvaez drove him in with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-4.
Durbin would finish with two hits and three RBI in his RailRiders debut.
After the Bisons made it a 7-4 game in their half of the fourth, the RailRiders put up seven runs in the fifth, the big swings coming on a solo shot from Jose Rojas and a two-run homer from Everson Pereira. Brandon Lockridge and Narvaez also drove in two runs apiece during the rally, which put the RailRiders ahead 11-7.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre bullpen was effective backing up Warren, with five relievers combining to throw 8.2 innings while allowing just three runs, one of which was unearned.
Oddanier Mosqueda earned the win in relief for the RailRiders, while Bisons reliever Brandon Eisert was tagged with the loss after allowing seven earned runs over 0.2 innings.
The RailRiders (1-0) will be back in action Saturday for the second game of their three-game set with Buffalo. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. at Sahlen Field.