Pawtucket 4, Buffalo 2

While the Bisons left the yard, the Red Sox didn't need to leave the infield to deal the Herd their first loss of the season.

Pawtucket collected five infield hits and benefited from a pair of Bisons errors to hand Buffalo a 4-2 Opening Night defeat from McCoy Stadium. Home runs from Josh Satin and Valentino Pascucci were the only offense the Herd could muster against a trio of PawSox pitchers.All three times Pawtucket dented the scoreboard they benefited by a play on the infield. Pawtucket second baseman Pedro Ciriaco blooped a soft liner over the mound in the third inning and scored on Mauro Gomez's RBI-single to give the PawSox a 1-0 lead.

After the Bisons took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, the PawSox put two on in bottom of the inning and escaped a potential inning-ending doubleplay when Jordany Valdespin couldn't handle Alex Hassan's grounder. Ciriaco took advantage with a single to centerfield to plate two more runs.

An insurance run for the PawSox came in the fifth after a pair of walks drove Bisons starter Matt Harvey from the game. Infield singles from Will Middlebrooks and Jason Repko off reliever Jeff Stevens produced a fourth Pawtucket run.

In his Triple-A debut, Harvey (0-1) allowed four runs in 4.1 innings of work. He threw 54 of his 95 pitches for strikes, walking four and striking out three.

Both Bisons' home runs came in the fourth inning as Satin and Pascucci both drove the ball out to left field.
Justin Germano (1-0) was credited with the win for Pawtucket, allowing two runs in five innings of work.

BISONS NOTES: This is the fourth consecutive year the Bisons have begun the season with a loss. Their last Opening Day victory was a 9-4 win in Norfolk on April 3, 2008...Pascucci's home run was his 39th as a Bison...Buffalo went 0-4 with runners in scoring position while Pawtucket was 4-16 in the same situation.