MiLB Recap July 19th 2016 (SRF Dominates)

[King]

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The Buffalo Bisons used nine innings of solid pitching from four members of their staff to edge the Norfolk Tides by a score of 3-2 at Coca-Cola Field on Tuesday.

 

Wilmer Font was terrific, earning his first win in what was his third start as a Bison.

 

The 26-year-old Venezuelan gave up a run in the first but nothing more across 5.2 innings of work. After allowing a one-out single in the third, Font faced the minimum before making way for the bullpen 11 batters later.

 

"I felt pretty good. I was working down in the zone, working a lot on the slider," said the 6-foot-4 righty.

 

"Trying to throw it like a fastball was the key."

 

Chad Girodo promptly finished off the sixth inning as he caught Mike Yastrzemski looking at a third strike.

 

Nearing the end of his rehab time with the Herd, Franklin Morales came on to pitch the seventh. The left-hander struck out a batter but gave up a run on a single and a triple, bringing his ERA to an even 2.00 over nine appearances.

 

Ryan Tepera struck out three Tides as he fired two scoreless frames to seal the 3-2 win for the Herd.

 

"He did a nice job," said Gary Allenson of his starter, before expanding on the usage of his relief corps.

 

"Girodo hadn't pitched in three days and had a chance to face a lefty and Morales needed a full inning. Ryan's thrown multiple innings for us and he did a great job there for the final two innings."

 

Dalton Pompey got the offense started early.

 

Trailing 1-0 in the first, the center fielder lined a single straight up the middle to leadoff the inning. Ryan Goins, in his fourth rehab game with the Herd, advanced Pompey 90 feet with a bunt single.

 

Pompey then stole third and was chauffeured home on a sac fly from Chris Colabello.

 

"He's obviously a big spark plug for us at the top of the order and makes some things happen there," noted Buffalo's manager of his leadoff batter.

 

"We don't have a lot of team speed so he probably looks like a rocket ship there compared to some of our other guys."

 

The RBI was Colabello's third in just his second rehab game with the Bisons.

 

Matt Dominguez and Casey Kotchman each drew a walk to begin the bottom of the second. A sacrifice bunt from Wilkin Castillo then bumped up both runners by a base.

 

David Adams lofted a liner over short to plate Dominguez before Pompey beat out a possible double-play ball, allowing Kotchman to cross home for Buffalo's third run.

 

BISONS NOTES:

Prior to Tuesday's action, infielder Shane Opitz was transferred back to Double-A New Hampshire…Ryan Tepera has successfully converted each of his 14 save opportunities…Ryan Goins is 4-for-17 after four games of rehab…Dalton Pompey's stolen base was his team-leading 12th this season.

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MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Fisher Cats plated four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to complete a 7-5 comeback win over the Reading Fightin' Phils on Tuesday night at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

 

Taylor Cole (W, 2-2) battled through six innings to pick up the win, surviving a four-run fifth inning from Reading. Jason Leblebijian put the Fisher Cats in front with an RBI single in the bottom of the first, but New Hampshire found itself behind 5-2 after four and a half frames.

 

The comeback started with a walk. Christian Lopes drew a free pass to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and went to second when Roemon Fields reached on a fielder's choice. Leblebijian struck again with a run-scoring single to center, and Ryan Lavarnway tied the game with a two-run double to make it 5-5. Dwight Smith, Jr. followed with a liner to left that sent Lavarnway to third, and Emilio Guerrero brought home the go-ahead run with a single past third base.

 

Fields extended the lead to 7-5 with an RBI groundout in the sixth. New Hampshire's bullpen was spectacular, as Tim Mayza (H, 3) and Chris Smith (S, 5) combined to throw three one-hit innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Lavarnway finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and three walks, while Leblebijian finshed 2-for-5 with a pair of runs driven in.

 

As part of the Fisher Cats first annual "Community Games" competition, representatives from six charities participated in on-field contests for a chance to win $500 for their organization. Chris Roundy of Community Partners, which helps individuals and families with crisis intervention, community services, residential care, case management, and much more, was the last "tribute" standing and took home the grand prize for his non-profit organization.

 

The Fisher Cats and Fightin' Phils close out the series on Wednesday afternoon with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch for Camp Day, presented by Candia Springs. Counselors and campers from over a dozen local camps will compete on-field in Color Wars throughout the game. For information and tickets, visit nhfishercats.com.

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DUNEDIN, FL - RHP Sean Reid-Foley (W, 5-0) struck out ten allowing just one hit over six innings in the Dunedin Blue Jays' (18-8) 2-0 win over the Charlotte Stone Crabs (12-12) on Tuesday afternoon. The Jays beat knuckleball pitcher RHP Jeff Howell (L, 1-5) who walked seven over three innings.

 

Dunedin loaded the bases in each of the first three innings, but only managed one run in the span, leaving eight runners on base and grounding into two double plays. Though seven Jays walked against Howell (plus one hit batter), the lone run was a RF Josh Almonte sac fly.

 

Reid-Foley worked quickly, striking out the top three in the order a total of eight times in nine plate appearances. The only three baserunners he allowed were a single and two walks in the third inning, but he stranded all three runners to preserve the would-be shutout.

 

Dunedin's second run came unearned on LF Jonathan Davis' double play ball to score CF Anthony Alford in the fifth inning against LHP Steve Ascher.

 

After Reid-Foley's outing, RHP Adonys Cardona (H, 8) and RHP Dusty Isaacs (S, 1) shut down Charlotte to seal the Jays' fourth straight home win. Cardona walked a pair in the seventh, but a fly ball to Almonte in right turned into a double play that ended the inning when he threw back to first to double up LF Jace Conrad.

 

In the top of the ninth, the go-ahead run came to the plate in Conrad with two outs and two on, but Isaacs induced a game ending ground ball to short.

 

Dunedin looks for the four game sweep on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm with RHP Justin Shafer on the mound. LHP Grayson Garvin battles for the Stone Crabs.

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Kings 3 Stars of the Night

 

1) Sean Reid-Foley: SRF was magnificent going 6 innings with 10 strikeouts.

 

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Last year, there were questions about whether Sean Reid-Foley should have been in the Florida State League. The same questions are back, but now for completely different reasons.

 

The Blue Jays' No. 3 prospect struck out 10 and allowed only one hit and two walks over six innings Tuesday afternoon to lead Class A Advanced Dunedin to a 2-0 win over Charlotte at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Reid-Foley improved to 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA in his seventh start with the Blue Jays following a promotion from Class A Lansing on June 16.

 

Though his pitching line may make it seem as if Tuesday's gem was a breeze, the 20-year-old right-hander admitted it felt like anything but. He retired the first seven Stone Crab batters he faced -- four via the strikeout -- before walking Thomas Milone, allowing a single to Matt Eureste and walking Alec Sole to load the bases. Reid-Foley escaped by getting Grant Kay to strike out looking, kicking off a string of 10 straight retired Charlotte batters that concluded by fanning the side in the sixth.

 

"I think today happened probably because I was effectively wild," said Reid-Foley, who still managed to throw 57 of his 90 pitches for strikes. "I'd throw two balls here, then two strikes here. I wanted to make them put the ball in play, but there were times when I'd throw the ball nowhere close and then put them away for a strikeout, stuff like that.... You never really plan on those days. It just kind of happened, but it worked out well today."

 

Control was a worry for the 2014 second-rounder in his first full season last summer as he averaged 6.3 BB/9 in 25 starts (96 innings) between Lansing and Dunedin. As a result, his delivery became a focus this campaign as the Jays sent him back to the Midwest League at the start of 2016 to iron things out. Reid-Foley, who has earned plus grades for his fastball and slider and also possesses a curve and changeup, said he was still working on that delivery throughout Tuesday's outing.

 

"At times, it was a little too rotational," he said. "I was across my body more than I normally am and pulled a couple of fastballs to my arm side. With my delivery, the main goal is to get through the baseball and throw the ball downhill.... It's not going to be perfect. That's never going to happen. But I need to slow down, find my rhythm. If I'm more in the zone, that'll make guys swing a lot more. I think I can be better than giving up two walks."

 

The 6-foot-3 hurler's walk rate has plummeted to 2.8 BB/9 between his two stops in 2016, and he surpassed the century mark in innings (101 to be exact) for the first time in his young career, despite making seven fewer starts than he did in 2015. With his 10 K's Tuesday, Reid-Foley moved into fourth in the Minors with 113 punchouts. Since his FSL season debut on June 16, no one in the Minors has more strikeouts than Reid-Foley's 54 in 43 innings.

 

"It's come down to throwing more strikes," he said of his success. "That's been the biggest key. Last year, I would rarely get past four or five innings at a time. That was really frustrating, but at the same time, it was a learning experience."

 

Baseball America placed Reid-Foley at No. 84 in its midseason top-100 prospect list and first among all Toronto prospects, ahead of Anthony Alford (No. 86) and Conner Greene (No. 90). (MLB.com will release its top 100 update later this month.) Attention is coming with these eye-popping results, but Reid-Foley would prefer to keep his focus on the diamond.

 

"Honestly, that's the worst part of the game," he said. "I don't try to get caught up in that or read into any of it. All that matters to me is that my teammates feel confident we're going to win the game every time I pitch. That's all I care about."

 

Blue Jays reliever Adonys Cardona worked around two walks in seventh, and Dusty Isaacs pitched the final two frames to record his first save for the Blue Jays this season.

 

Alford went 1-for-2 with two walks, a run scored and a stolen base from the leadoff spot.

 

 

2) Adams Cuevas: Cuevas pitched 6 innings in relief of Meliton Reyes, allowing 2 hits, 0 earned runs and recording 6 strikeouts. On the season, Cuevas has pitched 24IP 10H 0ER 6BB 25K.

 

3) Wilmer Font: Font went 5.2IP 4H 1ER 1BB 5K. A nice start for the pitcher just recently signed out of independent ball.

 

Kings Platinum Arencibia

 

1) Luis Sanchez: Sanchez went 4IP 2H 0ER 6BB 2K. Although the earned runs were nice.. his command most definitely not there, as he hit 1 batter, threw 6 walks and 3 wild pitches.

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[Jonn]

Future reliever my ass....

[Grant77]

I watched Wilmer Font pitch in Ottawa less than a month ago, interesting that the Bisons took a shot on him.

[Sorrow]

I watched Wilmer Font pitch in Ottawa less than a month ago, interesting that the Bisons took a shot on him.

 

He was one of the better arms in the Can-Am League, I'm surprised he wasn't put in New Hampshire.

[CHRIS]

Nice to hear SRF understand that results does not necessarily equal performance; namely that being effectively wild isn't a recipe for long-term success.

[Brownie19]

SRF certainly looks to have a "flat arm" delivery.

 

Vlad Jr. sure seems to be hitting well for a 17 year old.