Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Stanifer Struggles, Dallas Continues to Impress, and Dunedin Battles Through Rain

[Brian Labude]

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (April 9-April 10)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Syracuse Mets (New York Mets): 3-1
Season Record: 6-7

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox): 2-2
Season Record: 3-3

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs. Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 1-3
Season Record: 1-6

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs. St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets): 2-1
Season Record: 3-3

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 6-7
• Series Opponent: Syracuse Mets (New York Mets)

April 9: Thursday's Buffalo Bisons game was one that is the definition of embarrassing. Five errors by Buffalo led to three unearned runs and ultimately a loss that should have been a win. Three batters after an RBI double by Ryan Clifford in the fourth inning, a throwing error by Josh Kasevich allowed the third run of the game to score. The very next batter, Hayden Senger, hit a ball to Ryan McCarty at second base, who misplayed it, leading to another run crossing the plate. The errors weren't just one-sided, as Syracuse helped Buffalo mount a comeback in the sixth. Down 4-0, RJ Schreck started the rally with an RBI single, scoring Yohendrick Pinango. Then a single to right field by McCarty scored Eloy Jiménez, and Cristian Pache threw the ball away, allowing Schreck to score on the play as well. The very next batter, Josh Rivera, hit a ball to the Mets’ shortstop Jackson Cluff, who also had trouble with the throw, committing yet another error that let McCarty score to tie the game up at four. In the seventh, Buffalo was back to playing like the Bad News Bears, as Hayden Juenger threw the ball away on a pick off attempt, moving Pace from second to third. He would then score when Cluff hit a sacrifice fly that would have ended the inning. The run was ultimately the game winner, with the Bisons falling 5-4. Jiménez remains one of the more consistent players for Buffalo. With a walk in the game, he has now been on base in seven of the nine games he has played in. On the mound, the only real standout performance was by Devereaux Harrison. He went two innings in what amounted to a bullpen game, didn't allow a hit or walk, and struck out two. 

April 10: Buffalo rode a power surge from the bottom of the batting order to their sixth win of the season. Riley Tirotta got a hold of an 84 mph cutter down in the zone and launched his first home run of the season. The big play of the game came off the bat of Josh Rivera in the bottom of the third inning. Following a single from RJ Schreck and walks by Josh Kasevich and Triotta, Rivera unloaded on a 79 mph hanging slider down the middle, sending it over the centerfield fence for a grand slam. For Rivera, the home run came just six days after his first of the season. Unfortunately for the Bisons, he had gone 0-9 in the games in between his home runs. The seven-run lead Buffalo had at the end of the third inning was more than enough for the team, as Chad Dallas was again masterful on the mound. He pitched four innings, giving up two hits and two walks, but no runs at all. He would strike out two, while again limiting hard contact by focusing on more of his offspeed pitches. Brendon Little pitched in relief of Dallas, and he walked a batter before getting a strikeout and then inducing a groundball for a double play. The game went into over a 30-minute rain delay before it was called, and the Bisons won 7-1, as it was an official game at that point. 

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 

• Season Record: 3-3
• Series vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox)

April 9: New Hampshire was up against a tough challenge in a big lefty from the Boston Red Sox organization, Eduardo Rivera. Rivera went four innings pitched and only surrendered three hits and one run, as he struck out seven batters. New Hampshire surrendered runs in the first on an RBI single and a home run in the fourth inning by the Sea Dogs’ Drew Ehrhard. In the sixth inning, Cutter Coffey put the Fisher Cats within one run with an RBI triple after Nick Goodwin drove in a run in the fifth. New Hampshire tied it with a Jackson Hornung RBI single to center field, but the pitching couldn't silence the Sea Dogs. Ahbram Liendo smacked a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth as New Hampshire lost this one 4-3. Pitching note: Javen Coleman pitched two clean innings and struck out five batters for New Hampshire. He could be on the fast track to the Blue Jays bullpen if he keeps putting up zeros. 

April 10: New Hampshire jumped out to an early lead in this one, with two runs in the top of the first inning. Sean Keys smacked an RBI double and then would score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Geovanny Planchart. Gage Stanifer was on the mound for the Fisher Cats and was looking exceptional for two innings. He struck out 3 batters and got 6 outs pretty cleanly. In the third inning, things got bumpy. Nate Baez hit a three-run homer to left field, and in the fourth, another run scored on a double, single, and double. Once Stanifer was pulled, another run came in. His final line was 3.2 innings pitched, nine hits, five earned runs, zero walks, and six strikeouts. That said, he really pitched much better than his line showed. He collected 19 whiffs on just 66 pitches. He had 47 strikes to 19 balls. He was really focused on peppering the strike zone tonight, and the pitches were looking very good. For results, though, he may have been in the zone too much. After the fourth inning, hits were hard to come by for both teams, as New Hampshire lost this one, 5-2.

High-A Vancouver Canadians

• Season Record: 1-6
• Series vs. Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

April 9: After a five-game losing streak to start the season, Vancouver really needed a win to stop the skid. Landen Maroudis took the mound again and, despite not looking as sharp as he did in his first start, was able to pitch around two walks and four hits by striking out three batters and only allowing a single run. Gilberto Batista also looked much better in relief, with four strikeouts on the night, and pitching nearly four innings. Carson Pierce earned the save in relief, and although he was wild also struck out three batters. The pitching was not the big story, however, as Vancouver’s offense exploded, with outfielder Carter Cunningham and infielder Dub Gleed leading the way with four RBIs apiece. The Emeralds had struggles keeping the ball in the zone, leading to a ton of baserunners for the Canadians, as they walked 12 times, leading to 14 runs scored and, finally, a well-needed win. 

April 10: The Canadians tried to carry the momentum of their last win over to this game, as Daniel Guerra took the mound. Guerra struck out six batters, but shaky command resulted in four walks, five hits, and four runs given up. Danny Thompson Jr. came in relief and shoved. He too struck out six batters, with the one run he gave up being on an error on a pickoff attempt. The Canadians clawed their way back from the early deficit, as Carter Cunningham continued to produce, with a homer to cut the lead to two in the bottom of the fifth, and in the bottom of the ninth tied the game to send it to extras with an RBI single. The Canadians lost their second game in extras, though, as Kelena Sauer gave up a hit to allow the ghost runner to score, and they couldn’t score their own ghost runner. 

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays

• Season Record: 3-3
• Series vs. St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets)

April 9, Game 1: Game 1 was a continuation from the suspended game on April 7, and Trey Yesavage had his second outing. Bad luck with batted balls spoiled his first inning, as he allowed four singles and a walk in his first inning, which resulted in four earned runs. His pitches did look sharp despite that, and he struck out six batters in only two and two-thirds innings. Two 2025 draftees also showed some pop as Blaine Bullard hit his first professional homer, and JoJo Parker had his first double and RBI in the same inning. 24-year old Brayden Heidel, signed out of indie ball, had his first affiliated outing and struck out four batters without allowing a run in three innings, touching 99 mph with his fastball to keep the Mets from adding to the lead, but the Jays couldn’t get any more runs.

April 9, Game 2: In the second game of the day, the Jays came out blazing, with Yorman Licourt scoring on a pickoff attempt, and JoJo Parker with his second RBI double to give them an early 3-0 lead. Troy Guthrie continued to pitch well, going four innings, allowing only a single earned run and striking out four. Austin Smith made his pitching debut as a two-way player but struggled with his command, allowing two walks. Peyton Williams had himself a day, going 3-for-4, including an RBI triple to centerfield as his third one. The Mets rallied back against Diego Dominguez, who gave up three hits and two earned runs, but Jack Eshelman shut the door, striking out the side and earning his first save. 

April 10: The Jays had their highest scoring game of the season, in an effort to get back to .500. Nolan Perry’s return to the mound after UCL surgery has been fruitful, and despite slightly less sharp fastballs, he utilized his breaking balls extremely effectively, getting nine of his 11 whiffs of the night. The Dunedin offense was really effective against starter Frank Camarillo as they didn’t strike out a single time against him and tallied up seven hits. After Camarillo was taken out, the Jays switched their approach and walked eight times, and scored six more runs as a result. Eric Snow had himself a day, with two hits, two RBIs, and two walks, leading the offensive production for the game. 

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[John_Havok]

Dunno what theyre feeding Javen Coleman in New Hampsire but...damn