The Dog days of summer came early for the Buffalo Bisons this season, as it was their version of Bark at the park tonight at Sahlen Field. It included a dog parade around the outfield wall, a plethora of chew toys, and Yariel Rodriguez making what was hopefully his final rehab start before rejoining the Jays. For those of you wondering, YES the Baha Men were played. (Bark at the Park around baseball is actually where they get most of their royalties for ‘Who let the Dogs out’).

The home team Buffalo Bisons faced off against the Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox affiliate) in what wound up being a Walkoff win in the bottom of the ninth. 

The Bisons came back from a 2-1 deficit in the 8th on a RBI single from Orelvis Martinez (his 44th of the year) to drive in Addison Barger from third to tie it up. In the bottom of the ninth the Bisons walked it off on an infield single from Barger scoring the speedster Cam Eden from 2nd.

Yariel Rodriguez who hit the 15 day IL back on April 30th with thoracic spine inflammation looked nasty in his 4 innings of work. 10 of his 12 outs were K’s, he allowed one walk, 0 ER’s and 3 hits. His fastball was sitting around 93 most of the night, ramping it up as high as 95-96. His breaking stuff was crisp and hitting their spots all night long. Yariel’s curveball was a weapon tonight, both hitting the zone and setting up his fastball as an out pitch. He was truly phenomenal and really showed the dog in him. (Sorry, I’ve truly held back on the dog puns and there’s still too many in here… I did my best).

Bisons manager Casey Candaele touched on Yariel’s performance on the night “it was very impressive, I think the one inning he was one foul ball away from an immaculate inning. He was landing his breaking ball, his split was working, he humped up on his heater when he needed to and used his cutter.  So he used all his pitches effectively, he threw them all for strikes and did just an outstanding job.”

The starting pitching depth is an area of concern currently with the Toronto Blue Jays. Over the weekend it was announced that Alek Manoah will be out for at least the remainder of the season. He has UCL surgery planned for June 17. Ricky Tiedemann, the Jays top pitching prospect, is still on the IL in Buffalo, and although he’s started a throwing program, still isn’t close to a return. Todays outing by Rodriguez is not just nice to see for this Blue Jays team, but his return is sorely needed.