Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Pitching Remains a Bright Spot on the Farm

[Brian Labude]

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (June 4-5)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox): 1-3
Season Record: 28-33

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates): 2-2
Season Record: 28-24

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels): 2-2
Season Record: 23-32

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Daytona Tirtougas (Cincinnati Reds): 3-1
Season Record: 23-32

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 2-1
Season Record: 19-6

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 1-1
Season Record: 1-2

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 0-1
Season Record: 0-2

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 28-33
• Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)

June 4: The Thursday and Friday games were both looking like sure-fire wins for Buffalo. They sent a rehabbing Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer to the mound against the Worcester Red Sox. Cease got the nod for Thursday's game and locked in during the bottom of the first; he got a quick 1-2-3, only throwing seven pitches in the inning. In the second inning, he sandwiched a double between two outs before he got touched up. An RBI single by Matt Lloyd and a two-run home run by Tsung-Che Cheng gave Worcester an early 3-0 lead in the game. The bottom of the third was bad for Cease as well; he gave up a lead-off home run to Braiden Ward and an RBI single to Allan Castro a bit later in the frame. Cease worked the fourth inning fairly well and ended his outing with a strikeout of Ward. On the day, he threw four innings, gave up six runs, struck out six, allowed six hits, and walked just one. Unfortunately for Buffalo, the bats followed Cease's lead and were about as poor as they have been in a while. The Bisons only managed to scratch one run across the plate, a seventh-inning solo home run by Jonatan Clase. Buffalo fell 5-1 in a game they should have won, at least on paper. 

June 5: Friday night's game saw Max Scherzer take the mound against the Worcester Red Sox. He was making his second rehab start with Buffalo, but this one wasn't exactly encouraging. In the first inning, he was able to make it through the frame, only giving up a double. The second inning saw him get Worcester 1-2-3, but he threw a number of pitches that were far from competitive. It was the third inning where he got into trouble, a single and a ground-rule double preceded a two-RBI single. He would get touched up again in the fourth, this one from a Matt Lloyd solo home run. For the game, he pitched 3.2 innings, gave up five hits and three runs, but did strike out five. Meanwhile, the offense struggled yet again. Davis Schneider continues to take a ton of walks (two in this game), but he hasn't been getting any hits when he swings the bat. Schneider would score the first run of the game for Buffalo following one of his walks in the fourth. He would walk, followed by Sean Keys’ first hit for the Bisons (a single), then Riley Tirotta would hit a ball to center for a sacrifice fly. Buffalo tried to get a rally going in the top of the ninth inning, Je'Von Ward smacked his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast to right field. It was the closest the Bisons would get, as Worcester took the game 6-3 and bested Buffalo in two games that the Bisons should have won on paper. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 28-24
• Series vs Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates)

June 4: The Thursday game between New Hampshire and Altoona was a big day for Sean Keys. In the second inning, he hit a line drive single to right field, followed by a double to right in the sixth, and then he scored New Hampshire's first run later in the inning. He would strike out in the fifth inning and then leave the game in the eighth inning, ultimately because he was promoted to Triple A. Back to the fourth inning, Altoona scored six in the frame on two three-run home runs. Cutter Coffey drove in Aaron Parker in the fourth, followed by Nick Goodwin hitting a sacrifice fly to give the Fisher Cats a 6-3 deficit. Altoona scored two more in the seventh inning, this time on the backs of two more home runs. New Hampshire lost this one 8-3.

June 5: On the Friday night game between New Hampshire and Altoona, the Fisher Cats flipped the script from the previous game. New Hampshire and Altoona traded home runs in the third inning. First came Ivan Brethowr launching one for the Curve, and then Jace Bohrofen hit his 13th home run of the season for the Fisher Cats. Cutter Coffey would add a sacrifice fly in the inning as well to give New Hampshire the one-run lead. In the fifth inning, Coffey added a two-run double, as did Jorge Burgos to put the Fisher Cats up four. Eddie Micheletti Jr. tripled home the seventh run of the game later in the inning, and Adrian Pinto did the same in the seventh, with an RBI triple. New Hampshire won this one 8-3. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 23-32
• Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels)

June 4: The Canadians outhit the Dust Devils 11 to five on the night, but the end result wasn't the one they wanted. Danny Thompson Jr. had one of the best starts of his young pro career, going five innings, allowing just two walks and one hit, although that one hit was a solo homer, and striking out a career best nine hitters. The Canadians also got off to an early lead, as Dub Gleed has become a bright spot in the Canadians' offense, with his 23rd RBI of the season with a single in the first. Jacob Sharp drove in another run in the fifth with a groundout to make it 2-0. Thompson gave up the homer to Gage Harrelson in the fifth, but was in line for the win after finishing the inning. Reece Wissinger struggled after coming in the sixth inning, giving up three straight singles and then a three-run homer to lose the lead for Vancouver. Wissinger was solid for the rest of the game, but the Canadians' offense couldn’t catch up, as Edward Duran was only able to bring them within one with a single in the eighth, for a close loss 4-3. 

June 5: The Canadians once again outhit the Dust Devils, but this time they brought the power as well. Hayden Gilliland got it going with an RBI double in the first, and a couple of errors from Tri-City allowed two more runs to score for a three-inning first. Johnny King went a career high 5.2 innings pitched, striking out eight batters, tying his season high for the second game in a row. The offense teed off of the Dust Devils' pitching, with Tucker Toman having three hits, including a double and a homer. Brennan Orf had three hits as well, with a double and a triple, and there were four other Canadians with two hits. Every hitter in the Canadians' lineup got on base at least once. Trace Baker got his first career save, going 3.1, allowing just one hit and a walk without allowing a run for a dominating 14-2 win. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 23-32
• Series vs Daytona Tirtougas (Cincinnati Reds)

June 4: Dylan Watts had his second straight excellent outing in a row, and he took his scoreless streak to 11.1 innings. He struck out a season high seven batters in the longest outing of his career, six innings. The Jays scored a run in the second off an Aldo Gaxiola single, and they scored four more in the fourth inning, as they had a lot of runners on base, with Yorman Licourt driving in a run with a single, Raimundo De Los Santos walking with the bases loaded for another, and Dariel Ramon nearly clearing the bases with a two-RBI double. The bullpen let up a few runs, Diego Dominguez gave up a two-run homer in the seventh, and Angel Obando got the save but allowed a run to score after a missed catch from Brock Tibbitts, as the Jays won 5-3. 

June 5: The Dunedin Blue Jays won this game in the second inning, as the offense could not get out. Jake Bloss looked incredible in another rehab start, and he sat 96.3 mph on his fastball, generating eight whiffs and striking out five batters in 4.1 scoreless innings. The Jays were able to load the bases in the second, and Dariel Ramon hit a two-run double, followed by a two-run single from Jake Cook. JoJo Parker then walked with the bases loaded to make it five runs, before another two-run single from Eric Snow. The inning was then capped off with an Aldo Gaxiola RBI single. The Jays scored another run in the fourth inning off a 107 mph homer from Parker for his fourth of the season, and the bullpen finished off the shutout. Javen Coleman returned on rehab assignment and struck out three batters, before Jack Nedrow got his first save with three innings of one-hit pitching, for a dominating 9-0 win. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 19-6

June 4: The FCL Blue Jays blew out the FCL Yankees on Thursday, and the star of the game was Angel Guzman. He went 4-for-4, with two home runs, two doubles, and four runs scored, as well as five RBI and a walk. Hedbert Perez got the scoring going quickly in the first with a three-run home run. Later in the game, Andres Arias added an RBI double, and Kennew Blanco hit an RBI double of his own in the seventh inning. The FCL Blue Jays ended with 18 hits and 19 runs, to go with 10 walks. On the pitching side, Miguel Pantoja had another solid game. He pitched three innings and only allowed one run and one hit. The FCL Blue Jays won 19-3. 

June 5: In the Friday FCL game, the Blue Jays squad took on the Phillies FCL team. Jean Joseph got the Blue Jays on the board first with a long home run in the second inning. In the third, the Blue Jays scored two more, with the big hit coming from an RBI single by the hot-hitting Angel Guzman. Jalvin Arias and Guillermo Rosario hit home runs for the Phillies team to even the score at three in the fourth inning. That was when Guzman took over for the Blue Jays team, as he hit an RBI double, and then, in extra innings, he launched his third home run in two days. Gavin Smith followed suit on the next pitch for the back-to-back home runs, as the FCL Blue Jays won 8-5 in nine innings. 

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 2-3

June 4: Yoenis Morales and Kenyer Navarro gave up three runs and two runs, respectively, while on the mound for BJB. Isay Veras continues to be a bright spot for BJB, walking three times in this game. Michael Mesa and Samuel Orellana each walked twice, but the bats in general were kept quiet by the Pirates’ Black team. BJB only managed four hits into the game, highlighted by Eiker Lothar's two-RBI single in the top of the second and Ruben Sanchez's RBI single in the sixth. With the game tied up at five after the top of the sixth, the Pirates broke away in the bottom half of the inning and scored five to win 10-5. 

June 5: Friday's game down on the island was much more fun for BJB and Blue Jays fans. Michael Mesa launched a home run in the bottom of the fifth to extend the BJB lead and help give them a win. They had built a lead out in the third inning with a sacrifice fly by Juan Caricote, a double steal that included home, and two RBI singles by Samuel Orellana and Sebastian Casanova. Then Mesa added his two-run blast in the fifth, providing a couple of insurance runs. Mesa might be someone to watch out for, he is big-bodied for just 17 years old, standing 6-foot-2 and 209 pounds. David Hernandez capped off the game, throwing three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. BJB won 6-3. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 1-3

June 4: Cristhian Duarte took the mound for BJR on Thursday and was spectacular. It is his second season in the DSL, and he started it off right, throwing five innings, not walking a batter, giving up three hits and one run, and striking out seven. While Duarte put the team in a good position to win, the bats struggled mightily. BJR only managed to get two singles and only walked five times (two by Elaineiker Coronado). BJR dropped a very winnable game, 1-0. 

June 5: After getting shut out on Thursday, BJR exploded for 10 runs on Friday. Aneudi Severino had the best game among the BJR bats; he had a triple and a home run (his first of his career). Gabriel Porras had a good game as well, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single and a run scored. Victor Espiritu pitched his second game of the early season and did much better in this one. He threw four innings, gave up three hits and one run, while striking out four with zero walks. BJR won this one big 10-3.

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