Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Moon Debuts, FCL Jays Keep Winning, and Schreck Is on Fire

[Daniel Labude]

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (May 9-May 11)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 4-2
Season Record: 19-20

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox): 4-1
Season Record: 19-11

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 2-4
Season Record: 13-20

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh Pirates): 2-4
Season Record: 13-20

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 5-0
Season Record: 7-0

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 19-20
• Series Opponent: Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

May 9: RJ Schreck continued his torrid stretch in May, collecting four more hits on his way to leading Buffalo to a victory Saturday. He smashed his second home run of the series with Lehigh Valley and hit another double, bringing that total to five for the week as well. Buffalo kicked the scoring off with two bases-loaded walks in the second inning, one each by Carlos Mendoza and William Simoneit. In the third inning, Josh Kasevich added a run with an RBI single, scoring Jonatan Clase. Then, after a Charles McAdoo walk, Riley Tirotta smoked a ball 108.1 mph over the left field fence for a three-run home run. The lead didn't last long, as CJ Van Eyk coughed up four unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning and Devereaux Harrison surrendered three more runs in the fifth. With Buffalo now trailing by a run, Josh Rivera squeaked a ball over the left field fence at just 93.1 mph for a solo shot. The next inning, Schreck came to the plate and pummeled a ball 104.1 mph for a two-run home run and gave Buffalo the lead for good. Tanner Andrews pitched the ninth and struck out two. Earning the save and the win for Buffalo, 9-7. 

May 10: On Sunday, Buffalo put an exclamation point on the week-long series with Lehigh Valley, as the bats were sizzling hot. Four players had multiple hits, and three of them had at least three hits, including RJ Schreck. He will surely be disappointed when Buffalo leaves Lehigh. He tallied 15 hits in the series, six doubles, two home runs, and 16 RBI. In the game Sunday, he had four of the RBI, one on an RBI single in the first inning, two from a two-RBI double in the fifth, and the last one on an RBI single in the eighth. While Schreck was a big performer in the game, Willie MacIver had an even bigger day. He had himself a 4-for-5 day, with four RBI, a double, and a home run. The home run was a three-run blast that went just over 400 feet to right-center field. Ismael Munguia stayed hot at the plate as well, collecting three hits in the game and raising his batting average at Triple-A to .359. On the mound, Josh Fleming pitched five innings of one-run ball and handed it over to the bullpen with a big lead. The bullpen did its job and finished the game, only allowing one unearned run. Brendon Little continues to push for a promotion back to the big league club. He pitched another scoreless inning and struck out one. Buffalo ran away with this game and won 11-2, pulling to within one game of their kryptonite .500 record. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 19-11
• Series vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox)

May 9: Postponed

May 10: In the Sunday finale between New Hampshire and Portland, the Fisher Cats got to see one of the top breakout starting pitchers in the minor leagues, Anthony Eyanson. New Hampshire struggled with him in his Double-A debut, only managing four hits off of him in four innings. Victor Arias did launch a home run in the second inning. Jace Bohrofen added a two-run home run in the sixth, and Jorge Burgos brought in a run with a groundout in the seventh. Franklin Arias and Brooks Brannon carried the Portland offense to a big day, as the Fisher Cats lost 12-4. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 13-20
• Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

May 9, Game 1: The Canadians had a doubleheader against the Emeralds, and Dub Gleed got them on the board in the first at-bat of the game with a homer off of Yunior Marte. Landen Maroudis was the starter for this game and dealt with shaky command, walking four batters in four innings. He allowed the Emeralds to tie it up in the second inning, but in the fourth inning, the Canadians pulled ahead with a J.R. Freethy two-RBI single. Maroudis had a scoreless fourth inning, but in the fifth inning walked the leadoff batter and was pulled for Eminen Flores. Flores walked the next batter, then gave up a three-run homer to give the lead back to the Emeralds. Trace Baker struggled as well, as after a Maddox Latta error, he allowed three more runs to score, putting the Canadians down four. In the seventh inning, Peyton Williams walked and Alexis Hernandez hit his first homer of the season to bring it back within two runs, but the Canadians couldn’t capitalize, losing the first game of the doubleheader. 

May 9, Game 2: The offense sputtered for the Canadians after a relatively high-scoring first game, as Vancouver only had four hits against the Emeralds. On the other hand, Gilberto Batista gave up five runs, with four of them coming in the second inning, as his ERA climbed to 8.46 on the season and he earned his second loss of the season. The Canadians got one run after Carter Cunningham tripled and Manuel Beltre then drove him in with a single, but that was all they could do against the domineering Emeralds. 

May 10: The Canadians put up a fight in the last game of the series. Although Daniel Guerra struggled for the first time this season, giving up seven runs in just over three innings, Vancouver didn’t give up. The Canadians were able to get a couple of runs in on a Hayden Gilliland double, but were down 12-2 after Juanmi Vasquez gave up five more runs once Guerra was taken out. Carter Cunningham started the comeback with his seventh homer of the year, scoring Williams and himself, and after a Gleed sac fly in the ninth, Alexis Hernandez hit his second homer in two games to bring it within four runs. Sadly, the lead was insurmountable, and the Canadians fell short once again against Eugene.

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 13-20
• Series vs Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh Pirates)

May 9: After a dominating start in his first rehab game, Silvano Hechavarria could not get out of the first inning. He got two quick outs immediately, but then allowed a hit, walk and another hit for the first run of the game. Juan Sanchez then committed a fielding error, and Hechavarria lost all control, with three wild pitches in a row leading to four runs scored in the first. Diego Dominguez replaced him and got out of the first inning, but in the second inning, disaster struck once again for Dunedin. Dominguez allowed the first four hitters on base, and after an RBI groundout, allowed a three-run homer for another big inning for Bradenton. The Jays got on board with a Dariel Ramon double leading to a JoJo Parker RBI single, but the Marauders got that run back the inning after. Yorman Licourt hit a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth, but it was much too little and too late.

May 10: Dylan Watts took the bump for the last game of the series and didn’t have his best stuff or command. He allowed two hits and a walk right away in the first inning, with the Jays going down early. Yorman Licourt answered back in the second inning, however, as the Cuban outfielder hit a 102.1 mph homer to left center to take the lead. Watts allowed his second run of the game right after in the third inning, as he walked three more batters and allowed a game-tying single. Once again, the Jays got the run back; this time, Owen Gregg and Blaine Bullard got on base, and after Eric Snow moved the runners over, JoJo Parker hit a sac fly. Franly Urena and Carson Myers pitched well in relief for the Jays after the lead was taken back, as they combined for five scoreless innings while striking out five batters. The Jays also got some insurance runs, as they hit three doubles in a row from Bullard, Snow, and Parker to make it 5-2. Jack Eshleman got his fifth save of the season despite allowing another run, but the Jays ended the series on a high note after struggling against Bradenton. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 7-0

May 9: The FCL Blue Jays faced off against the FCL Yankees on Saturday. It was the minor league debut on the mound for Toronto Blue Jays prospect Seojun Moon. He had a shaky first inning, giving up a single and a walk, but gathered himself and finished the inning with three groundouts between the baserunners. In the second inning, Moon started strong, getting two strikeouts, one swinging and one looking, before a popout ended the inning and his debut. Next up was Miguel Pantoja, who fired off four innings and struck out six, only allowing two hits. On the offensive side of the ball, the Blue Jays took an early lead in the second inning on a Pascual Archila two-run single. A sacrifice fly from Sam White, a wild pitch, and a bases-loaded walk scored three more the next inning. A groundout and an error allowed two more to score for the Blue Jays in the seventh, as they went on to win 7-4. They had only managed four hits, but 10 walks (three by Tim Piasentin) carried them to victory. 

May 11: It was another banner day for the Toronto Blue Jays' FCL pitching on Monday. Four pitchers combined for nine innings of one-run ball, which was unearned. Giacomo Taschin went three innings with five strikeouts, and Deiker Pineda matched the five strikeouts and went two innings. On offense, the second innings saw the Blue Jays score three runs: one on a Kennew Blanco groundout, and then one each on RBI singles from Rafael Flores and Angel Guzman. Later in the game, Tim Piasentin added an RBI single, and so did Pascual Archila. The FCL Blue Jays would beat the FCL Phillies 7-1.

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