First place belongs to the Buffalo Bisons.

The Herd took sole possession of the top spot in the International League North division with a thrilling 6-4, 10-inning victory over the Louisville Bats on Sunday afternoon from Coca-Cola Field. Chris Carter’s two-run walk-off home run capped a dramatic comeback as Buffalo collected its fifth consecutive victory.

The last time the Herd was alone in first place was July 16, 2007 when they were 51-38.

Buffalo’s climb to the top on Sunday wasn’t easy, especially as the Bats took a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th inning on Juan Francisco’s two-run home run. Surprisingly, it was a pair of hustle plays that got the Herd’s potent offense started.

With one out, Jason Pridie chopped a two-hopper to first base, but Louisville’s Drew Sutton hesitated for just a split second. Instead of flipping to the pitcher, Sutton went to the bag himself, but was beaten by the speedy Bisons’ centerfield.

The next batter was Bisons shortstop Andy Green. Even though he doubled in each of his two previous at-bats, Green took advantage of a winded Jon Adkins and dropped a perfect bunt single in front of the Louisville closer.

That set the stage for the big bats in the Bisons’ order. After Mike Jacobs advanced the runners over with a groundout, Mike Hessman ripped a broken-bat single off the glove of Francisco at third. Pridie scored easily and Green reached his hand over the left-foot block of catcher Wilkin Castillo to tag home plate and tie the game.

After Adkins was immediately ejected for arguing the call, Carter hit a 2-1 slider from Chad Reineke into the Heron’s Landing Party Deck for the walk-off winner.

The game was knotted at two through nine innings as the Louisville Bats plated solo runs in the second and sixth innings. Hessman got the Bisons on the board with a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Hessman now has eight home runs and an International League-best 28RBI.

Dillon Gee started for the Herd and made the big pitches when he needed to. The righty allowed 10 hits but only two runs as Louisville stranded 10 bases runners. He walked one and struck out five.

Gee helped himself out with his glove. With a runner on first in the fifth inning, the starter fielded a grounder from Chris Valaika behind his back before turning a 1-6-3 doubleplay.

BUFFALO BISONS
Jason Pridie – CF
Andy Green – 2B
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Chris Cater – RF
Mike Cevenak – LF
Omir Santos – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
Dillon Gee – RHP

LOUISVILLE BATS
Chirs Burke – CF
Zack Cozart – SS
Chris Valaika – 2B
Danny Dorn – RF
Todd Frazier – LF
Jaun Francisco – 3B
Wilkin Castillo – C
Drew Sutton – 1B
Travis Wood – LHP

BUFFALO BISONS
Jason Pridie – CF
Jesus Feliciano – LF
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Fernando Martinez – RF
Russ Adams – 2B
Josh Thole – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
Bobby Livingston – LHP

LOUISVILLE BATS
Chirs Burke – CF
Zack Cozart – SS
Wladimr Balenien – RF
Jaun Francisco – 3B
Chris Valaika – 2B
Todd Frazier – LF
Wilkin Castillo – 1B
Corky Miller – C
Sam LeCure – RHP

BUFFALO BISONS
Jason Pridie – CF
Jesus Feliciano – LF
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Fernando Martinez – RF
Chris Carter – DH
Russ Adams – 2B
Josh Thole – C
Ruben Tejada – SS

Pat Misch – LHP

DURHAM BULLS
Fernando Perez – LF
Rashad Eldridge – RF
Justin Ruggiano – CF
Dan Johnson – 3B
Matt Shealy – DH
Chris Richard – 1B
Angel Chavez – SS
Elliot Johnson – 2B
Alvin Colina – C

Aneury Rodriguez – RHP

It wasn’t a no-hitter. It was better.

In possibly the most dominating performance in Coca-Cola Field history, Bisons’ hurler R.A. Dickey retired a record 27 consecutive batters in a 4-0 masterpiece over the Durham Bulls on Thursday night.

Dickey gave up a single to the first batter he faced and then put the clamps down for a shade under two hours. Needing only 90 pitches, he mowed down the best hitting club in the International League in a complete-game for the ages.

All that stood in the way of Dickey making even more history was an 0-2 knuckleball that just stayed a little two high in the zone. Bulls’ lead-off hitter Fernando Perez went the opposite way with the pitch, poking a single through the right side of the Bisons infield to lead off the game.

Coincidentally, the first no-hitter in the minor leagues in 2010 occurred just a night early in Gwinnett. Norfolk’s Chris Tillman threw a no-no in a 6-0 win over the Braves on Wednesday.

The Bisons’ lone no-hitter is compliments of Bartolo Colon against New Orleans on June 20, 1997. Colon walked a batter in the first inning, so he only retired 25 in a row on his night.

After the lone mistake of the night, Dickey started his string of retired batters with a strike out of Rashad Eldridge -one of Dickey’s six punchouts. He then got Elliot Johnson and the league’s top hitter, Hank Blalock, to fly out to left to close out the first.

The rest seemed like easy work for Dickey. He induced a total of 12 ground outs and nine flyball outs. He had just one three-ball count and maxed out on pitches when he tossed 13 to get through the ninth inning. Dickey needed just seven pitches in the eighth inning and eight in the fifth inning to close out those frames.

All told, Dickey through 68 of his 90 pitches for strikes.

At an hour and 45 minutes, Dickey’s night was the second shortest nine-inning game in Coca-Cola Field history. It was just three minutes longer than a 2-1 loss to Louisville on August 5, 1993.

One run was enough for Dickey and the Bisons got that in the fourth inning. Jesus Feliciano led off with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Two groundouts later and the Herd had all the offense they needed.

Buffalo added insurance with a pair of runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth thanks to Ruben Tejada’s first Triple-A home run.

BISONS NOTES:The Bulls entered the game with an International League-best .299 team batting average. Dickey knocked down the average by nine points in one night…Jesus Feliciano extended his hit streak to eight games. He has 11 hits in his last five games and is now hitting .389 on the season…Mike Hessman drove home his team-leading 20th run.