Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Piñango Powered Buffalo, Perry Had a Scare, and Sanchez Smashed a Baseball

[Daniel Labude]

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (July 18-20)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Syracuse Mets (New York Mets): 2-1
Season Record: 46-50

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals): 1-2
Season Record: 45-43

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels): 2-1
Season Record: 39-51

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 0-2
Season Record: 41-47

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 5-0
Season Record: 37-19

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 2-2
Season Record: 15-20

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 2-2
Season Record: 17-17

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 46-50
• Series vs Syracuse Mets (New York Mets)

July 18: Taking on the Syracuse Mets on Saturday, Buffalo's bats were mostly missing when they needed them the most. The Bisons tallied eight hits in the game, as they faced off against one of the Mets' better starting pitchers, Jonah Tong. While eight hits is a decent number, five of them came from just two hitters, three by Josh Kasevich and two by Daz Cameron. Buffalo finally broke through and got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Yohendrick Piñango led it off with a single and moved to third on Charles McAdoo's double. Cameron brought both runners home when he ripped a line drive into the left-center gap for a double. Those would be the only runs Buffalo got across home plate all night. While they did score, it wouldn't matter much, as the Mets crushed Buffalo's pitching all night long. Devereaux Harrison, Conor Larkin, Sam Gardner, and Pat Gallagher all gave up at least three runs. In fact, the only pitcher who did not give up a run was Buffalo's starting catcher, William Simoneit, who came on to pitch the eighth inning. Buffalo lost big 15-2. 

July 19: In the final game of the shortened series with the Syracuse Mets, Buffalo battled tough until the very end. Je'Von Ward got Buffalo the early lead with a solo blast to right field in the top of the third inning. The home run had an exit velocity of 99.4 mph and was his ninth long ball of the season. Yohendrick Piñango gave Buffalo the lead back in the top of the sixth inning, when he roped a ball to right field for a two-run home run. On the mound for the Bisons was Chad Dallas, and he was excellent. He threw into the fifth, going 4.1 innings, didn't walk anyone, struck out four, and gave up just one run. He had his cutter working, getting two strikeouts on the pitch and using it a lot. Mason Olson took over for him and, in his Triple-A debut, was decent. He pitched 3.2 innings and gave up the game-tying, two-run blast to Christian Arroyo in the sixth. The game stayed tied headed into the ninth inning, when the Bisons finally broke through. Eloy Jiménez singled home a run, followed by Josh Rivera knocking in one with a single as well, then Jiménez scored on an RBI groundout by Carlos Mendoza. The scoring in the inning wrapped up with another RBI single, this one by Josh Kasevich. With a four-run lead, Tanner Andrews came into the game and shut the door on the Mets, striking out two and securing the 7-3 win for Buffalo. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 45-43
• Series vs Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals)

July 18: Saturday was a day for hits, as New Hampshire and Harrisburg would combine for 21 of them. Unfortunately, runs weren't as abundant. Jackson Hornung singled home a run in the second inning and immediately was matched by Ethan Petry tying the game with an RBI double for the Senators. In the fourth, Carter Cunningham hit an opposite-field single to bring in a run, but again Petry answered. This time he crushed a three-run home run. It was Petry's show, as he again had an RBI single in the eighth inning. New Hampshire couldn't get Petry out on the day, with him going 4-for-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle. The Fisher Cats added two runs in the ninth inning on an Eddie Micheletti Jr. double, but it wasn't enough. New Hampshire lost this one 7-4. 

July 19: It was a bad finale to the week-long series for New Hampshire against Harrisburg and not solely because of the result in the game. Nolan Perry was the starting pitcher for the Fisher Cats, and it was a short outing for him. After one inning and a hit, Perry surrendered a second hit, and it hurt. The Harrisburg hitter crushed a 104 mph line drive that came back right to Perry's head. It was a scary sight, but it appeared to not be as bad as it could have been. Perry would leave the game with a towel on the side of his head, but he walked off under his own power. The rest of the game wasn't much to see for the Fisher Cats. Arjun Nimmala had a double and New Hampshire added two singles, but that was it, just the three base runners in the game. New Hampshire lost this game 2-0.

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 39-51
• Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels)

June 18: Jacob Sharp had a 4-for-4 night as he helped power the Canadians to their second straight win, and the rest of the middle of the lineup made significant contributions as well. Peyton Williams was the first one to do so as in the fourth inning, he hit a two-run homer which became a lead that the Canadians never relinquished. Troy Guthrie earned the promotion to Vancouver after pitching great for Dunedin, and went five solid innings to get the win in his first start. He gave up a run in the fourth after Williams' homer, but the Canadians were able to get three more runs, this time with Jake Casey tripling to score the first run of the inning, then Eric Snow and Sharp both hit doubles to knock in two more. Guthrie gave up only one more run before getting taken out for Gilberto Batista, who’s been much better in shorter stints as of late, who struck out two batters in two scoreless innings to keep it five to two. Sharp had hit number four in the ninth to drive in the sixth run for the Canadians, and Austin Marozas got his first save of the season with five Ks in two innings of work to end it 6-2. 

June 19: The Dust Devils spoiled Landen Maroudis’ best start of the year, as the righty went five innings, striking out a career-best seven batters, only allowing three hits and a run off of a homer from Randy De Jesus. Ryan Sprock also had his first homer in the Jays’ organization in the third inning. Reece Wissinger replaced Maroudis in the sixth inning, and in the seventh inning Harold Coll homered, which ended up being the deciding run of the game as the Canadians could not buy a hit against the Dust Devil relievers, only getting on once with a walk in the ninth inning before the Dust Devils were able to close it out, for a close 2-1 loss. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 41-47
• Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

June 18: Carson Messina’s command faltered against the Threshers, as they were able to tag him for three runs as he walked three batters while giving up three hits, putting the Jays down early three to nothing. However, Juan Sanchez struck back with his sixth homer of the season, lasering one over the left field wall. The Jays had a chance to make that inning even bigger, with runners on second and third with just one out, but were unable to capitalize. The Jays brought it within one after Jean Joseph hit a double, as when Brock Tibbitts hit a grounder to the third baseman Robert Phelps, Phelps threw it in the dirt, allowing Joseph to score. Shortly after, the Jays were victims of their own error, as JoJo Parker couldn’t handle a grounder, which led to an RBI double and then a two-run homer, making it 6-2 for the Threshers. The Jays got an RBI groundout in the seventh, then in the ninth were able to get runners on second and third again, but this time Giaconino Lasaracina got an infield hit to score another to bring it within two. That was just too little too late as the Threshers were able to pull away with the win. 

June 19: Postponed

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 37-19

July 18: The FCL Blue Jays took on the FCL Phillies on Saturday. It was a slow day for the Blue Jays offense, despite five runs scored. They only managed three hits in the game. A wild pitch scored a run in the second for the Blue Jays, and Angel Guzman doubled in a run during the third inning. The Phillies scored four in the third, with the big hit being Jack Barker hitting a triple. In the fourth, Guzman drove in two runs on an RBI single and then scored on a balk. The Phillies took control in the fifth inning, when a grand slam from Gabriel Flores did the damage. The Blue Jays lost 11-5. 

July 20: It wasn't much of an eventful game for the FCL Blue Jays against the FCL Tigers on Monday. The Blue Jays took a three-run lead in the second inning. Kennew Blanco doubled in a run, and Gavin Smith crushed a two-run home run. The Tigers then scored seven straight over a few innings. Cris Rodriguez had the big hit, with a two-run home run. Blanco would make the game closer with a two-run single in the fifth, but another Tigers home run would put the game away. The Blue Jays lost this one 8-5.

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 15-20

July 20: On Monday, BJB got power from the top of their lineup, and the bottom part got on base to provide scoring opportunities. For BJB, the offense finally started in the fifth inning. Cristopher Polanco singled to right, scoring Luis Felipe, but Eiker Lothar was thrown out at third base to kill the rally. Down two in the bottom of the seventh, BJB really unlocked the power. After two singles, Polanco ripped a ball over the right field wall for a three-run home run. BJB wasn't done, though. After Sebastian Casanova walked, Juan Caricote followed Polanco's lead and took a ball over the right field wall as well, which was good for a two-run home run. Roberto Castellanos was solid again for BJB on the mound, going six innings and giving up just two unearned runs. Ire Martinez would get the call to close the game out, and he came through, as BJB won 6-3. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 17-17

July 20: BJR had a daunting task ahead of them on Monday: They faced off against a potent Yankees lineup and one of the best teams in the DSL. Five errors in the game for BJR made it almost impossible to come out on top, as did their pitching. Franiel Severino gave up four runs and also committed two of those errors. Alexander Garcia also gave up four runs, though at least he didn't commit any errors. For BJR, the bats didn't match up with the Yankees either. They finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. Alex Linares and Gabriel Porras each walked and would come in to score on Samuel Orellana's RBI double and Darwin Nuñez's two-RBI single. The three runs were all BJR would score in the game, as Yostin Pena powered the Yankees team to a 9-3 win. 

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