Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Tiedemann Pitches Again, Keys Walk-Off Home Run, Dunedin Stays Hot, Toman Shines

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (June 20 - June 22)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox): 2-4
Season Record: 35-40

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Birmingham Rumble Ponies (New York Mets): 3-3
Season Record: 34-33

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies): 3-3
Season Record: 29-40

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit Tigers): 4-2
Season Record: 32-36

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 4-2
Season Record: 26-11

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 2-2
Season Record: 6-10

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 1-4
Season Record: 5-11

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

Season Record: 35-40
Series vs Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox)

June 20: On Saturday, the Buffalo Bisons rode a quartet of top performers to a win against the Charlotte Knights. It started on the mound, with Grant Rogers facing off against David Sandlin for Charlotte. Rogers and Sandlin were in a pitcher's duel from the start. Charlotte would get on the board first, Dustin Harris roped an RBI triple off of Rogers in the second inning. In the same inning, Caden Connor added an RBI single that scored Harris and gave the Knights an early 2-0 lead. In the third, Buffalo would scratch across a run, Josh Mendoza singled, stole second, and then scored on Josh Kasevich's RBI single. Both starting pitchers would finish their days without giving up any more runs. Sandlin would go five innings, and Rogers would pitch six. In the seventh, Kasevich slashed a single to right field, driving in Clase, who had reached on a double to left field. Both teams would fail to provide any further scoring until Sean Keys came up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. Mendoza was on second base after singling to center and moving to second on a groundout. Keys would blister a pitch, 109.8 mph off the bat, over the right field fence for a walk-off two-run home run. For the game, Clase and Kasevich each had three hits, while Keys had the one that mattered the most. Buffalo won this one 6-4.

June 21: Pat Gallagher started on the mound Sunday for Buffalo in a bullpen game. It was the final game of the series against the Charlotte Knights. Gallagher only lasted two outs, giving up a two-run single to Caden Connor and loading the bases up, before being pulled in favor of Conor Larkin. Larkin was not able to stop the big inning for Charlotte, giving up a bases-clearing, three-run double to the first batter he faced. Before Buffalo even came to the plate in the bottom of the first, they were down 5-0. After the first, Buffalo's bullpen was magnificent, throwing eight one-hit innings and not allowing another run to score. Despite the pitching giving the bats a chance for a comeback, they never stood a chance. Noah Schultz was on the mound for Charlotte for 2.2 innings without allowing a run. He turned things over to Shane Murphy, who threw another 4.1 innings without allowing a run. Then their bullpen shut it down for the final two innings and closed the game out with Buffalo not on the scoreboard at all. Charles McAdoo, who was optioned back to Triple-A recently, was the lone standout on offense for Buffalo. He went 1-3 and had two walks. As a team, Buffalo struck out 11 times and took the loss 5-0. 

Double-A New Hampshire

Season Record: 34-33
Series vs Birmingham Rumble Ponies (New York Mets)

June 20: The Saturday game between New Hampshire and Binghamton started out promising for the Fisher Cats, but took a big step back in the middle innings. Hedbert Perez hit a big home run in the top of the first to give New Hampshire a one-run lead. Then, Cutter Coffey added a sacrifice fly in the fourth to erase a bases-loaded walk by Binghamton that came in the second inning. That was where the game remained until the sixth inning, when Binghamton started launching the baseball. Jaylen Palmer homered, then he doubled in two runs the next inning, followed by home runs from Kevin Villavicenoio and Nick Larusso. By the end of the game, New Hampshire ended up losing 10-2. 

June 21: In the Sunday series finale between New Hampshire and Binghamton, it was a wild game to the bitter end following a very slow start. Danny Thompson Jr. was on the mound for the Fisher Cats, and again, he pitched very well. He went five innings, only allowing one hit, zero runs, walking two, and striking out four. New Hampshire finally got on the scoreboard in the ninth inning with an Eddie Micheletti Jr. long ball. Unfortunately, the one-run lead didn't hold, as Binghamton scored on an RBI single to tie the game at one and send it to extra innings. In the tenth inning, Hedbert Perez walked with the bases loaded and was followed by a two-run single coming from Carter Cunningham. That three-run lead wasn't enough, though, as the bottom of the inning saw more runs from Binghamton. An RBI double was later followed by a two-run single from the Rumble Ponies to match the Fisher Cats' total. They moved to the eleventh inning, where Victor Arias roped an RBI single for the Fisher Cats. A single would move him to third, and then a fly ball set up Arias to tag and score another run, but it didn't happen. He was thrown out at home to end the inning. In the bottom of the eleventh, Binghamton couldn't answer, as they flew out twice and had a strikeout. New Hampshire won a wild one, 5-4, in 11 innings. 

High-A Vancouver 

Season Record: 29-40
Series vs Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies)

June 20: Spokane spoiled a four-hit night from Tucker Toman, who has been blazing hot for the Canadians as of late. Gilberto Batista again got a start for Vancouver, and he pitched two scoreless innings before J.R. Freethy hit a two-run homer to give the Canadians an early two-run lead. Tevin Tucker homered off of Batista in the bottom of the third inning, but Peyton Williams got that run back with an RBI single in the fourth. Batista gave up two runs in the fourth, including another homer, which tied the game up, but the Canadians took the lead right back with an Alexis Hernandez homer. Batista gave up homer number three in the fifth inning, this time for three runs, putting Vancouver in a two-run hole. Vancouver loaded the bases in the sixth inning, and Maddox Latta hit a grounder that ricocheted off the first baseman’s glove, allowing two runs to score. Toman then hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning. Carson Myers was great after replacing Batista, pitching 3 1/3 one-hit innings, striking out four batters. Jay Schueler replaced Myers in the 9th and gave up the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, as the game headed to extras. Jacob Sharp knocked in the ghost runner in the tenth, but Jack O’Dowd ended the game with a two-run homer off Schueler for a walk-off loss. 

June 21: Landen Maroudis took the pill for the last game of the series and pitched just two innings, allowing a solo shot and a sac fly in the first inning. He was able to get out of the second inning unscathed, but he threw 46 pitches, getting replaced by Jack Nedrow in the third inning. Eric Snow was able to take the lead for the Canadians with runners on second and third with his third homer in Vancouver in just eight games played. J.R. Freethy hit a sac fly in the fourth, but Nedrow allowed two runs in the fourth, which evened the game back up. Freethy had his second RBI of the night with a double in the sixth to take the lead, and Manuel Beltre drove him in with a two-run homer. Peyton Williams then hit a two-run homer in the seventh to make it a five-run lead. Jonathan Todd and Trace Baker both pitched excellently after Nedrow was taken out, as they struck out seven batters combined and only allowed a single run, as Baker earned the save and Todd got the win.

Single-A Dunedin

Season Record: 32-36
Series vs Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit Tigers)

June 20: Giacomo Taschin made his Dunedin debut after dominating the Florida Complex League, the young Italian allowed two runs in three innings of work off of a two run homer in the second but struck out three hitters. Blaine Bullard was able to knock in a run on a groundout in the third before Aldo Gaxiola took the lead with a two-run double in the third inning. Angel Obando struggled in the fourth inning, allowing two homers and four runs. Lluveres Severino and Franly Urena kept the game in reach as they pitched a combined five innings without allowing a single run, while combining for eight strikeouts and only allowing two hits between the two of them. This allowed the D-Jays to have their own four-run inning in the eighth, as a fielding error and a throwing error allowed Juan Sanchez to score, then Aldo Gaxiola had his third RBI of the night with a triple to bring it within one. Will Cresswell tied it up with a liner to left, and Jake Cook knocked in the game-winning run to score Cresswell. Tibbitts gave the Jays an insurance run in the ninth, and the Jays snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. 

June 21: 20-year-old Troy Guthrie was once again spectacular for Dunedin, as for the second straight start, he went six innings, allowing only one run for his third quality start in four starts. This time, Guthrie had six strikeouts on the night. The Jays got an early run in on a balk in the first, which was evened up by a double against Guthrie in the bottom of that inning, but with one out in the fifth inning, Austin Smith grounded into a what looked to be a double play, but shortstop Jack Goodman made an errant throw, allowing a run to score. The Jays pounced on that mistake, as Dariel Ramon hit a run-scoring double right after, a wild pitch scored another run, then JoJo Parker capped it off with a three-run homer for a big six-run inning. The Jays tacked on another three runs in the sixth as Jake Cook hit a sac fly and Dariel Ramon had his second double of the night to drive in two more to make it double digits for the Jays. Luis Fonseca then closed it out with three innings, allowing a single hit and no runs for the save in a dominating win. 

FCL Blue Jays

Season Record: 26-11

June 20: Ricky Tiedemann was back on the mound for his second game of the week in five days for the FCL Blue Jays. He was much more efficient this time, as he got the first batter to strike out on five pitches, then he struck out the second batter on just four pitches. With two outs, he got the third batter to ground out on seven pitches for a total of 16 in his lone inning this go around. The Blue Jays took the lead in the second inning on the back of a Kennew Blanco single to third base. The third inning saw two runs scored by the FCL Yankees from an RBI single and a throwing error by the catcher. The Yankees returned the favor in the sixth by allowing a Blue Jays run on a missed catch error at first base. Pascual Archila didn't let things be decided by defense, though, as he hit an RBI single on a line drive to right field in the eighth inning for the walk-off win. The Blue Jays won this one 3-2. 

June 22: In the Monday game between the FCL Blue Jays and FCL Phillies, hitting was not up to par on the day. The Blue Jays had just five hits in the nine-inning game. Angel Guzman, David Guzman, Gavin Smith, and Edgardo Villegas had singles and Max Viera had a double. The lone run for the Blue Jays came in the ninth inning on an RBI groundout from Villegas. The Phillies had managed two RBI singles, a sacrifice fly, and a run scoring on a throwing error by the catcher. It was a rough day for the Blue Jays, as they lost this one 4-1. 

DSL Blue Jays Blue

Season Record: 6-10

June 20: Sahir De La Cruz set the tone early for BJB on Saturday against the White Sox DSL team. De La Cruz worked four strong innings, giving up only one hit and one run, while striking out four. The lone run he surrendered was on himself; he gave up a single to Sebastian De La Cruz, who then stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice fly, and then scored on a wild pitch by. The offense used the stellar pitching performance to grab the lead early in the game. Isay Veras and Sebastian Casanova had RBI singles in the first and second innings, respectively. In the third, it was Yariel Cordero who gave BJB the lead with a sacrifice fly scoring Michael Mesa. Mesa would then get in on the party in the fourth, adding a run from his RBI single and then scoring on a passed ball later in the inning. In the fifth, Samuel Orellana scored a much-needed run, stealing third and then scoring on a throwing error on the play by the opposing catcher. BJB would need every bit of those seven runs, as they went through two pitches in the seventh. The White Sox would score five runs (four earned) in the seventh and almost complete the comeback, but a strikeout ended their chances, giving BJB the win 7-6. 

June 22: Roberto Castellanos on the mound and Juan Caricote at the plate teamed up to lead BJB on Monday against the Texas Rangers Red (RNR) team. Castellanos almost completed the game himself if it were the regular seven-inning variety; unfortunately,  this one went nine innings. Castellanos threw six innings, only giving up two hits and one run (zero earned). He would also strike out four and walk just one. Caricote tallied four hits in the game, scored two runs, and knocked in two. In the first inning, he got an RBI on a groundout, and then he scored a run in the fifth on Juarlin Soto's two-run single. In the seventh, he knocked in Sebastian Casanova on a single, while he scored the walk-off winning run on a fielding error by RNR's center fielder. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

Season Record: 5-11

June 20: BJR played a nine-inning game on Saturday against the DSL Angels. BJR probably wished it were just a seven-inning game, although that would have meant they would have been shut out, so maybe not. Down 9-0 in the ninth, BJR got a lead-off walk from Darwin Nunez, who would advance to second on a wild pitch, move to third base on another wild pitch, and then score on yet another wild pitch. That's it, three hits in the game, but the only run coming from a walk and three wild pitches. BJR lost big, 9-1. 

June 22: Monday was a much better game for BJR. They would tally 10 hits in the game and used a monster five-run fifth to win the game. BJR started their scoring in the fourth with an Aneudi Severino RBI double, scoring Gabriel Porras. In the fifth, Fabian Gonzalez got an RBI double of his own and then scored on Severino's second double of the game. Porras would score his second run of the game in the fifth, making it home thanks to a fielding error. Diego Arce wrapped up the scoring in the fifth with a two-RBI single to right field. BJR wasn't done scoring in the game, though; they got their fourth RBI double of the game in the sixth, this one from Frelian Flores. Then in the seventh, Elian Reyes knocked in Arce with a single. BJR bounced back with a win, taking this game.

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