Blue Jays Minor League Recap: C's One Game Away From Northwest League Title, as Smith Hits Grand Slam and Mitchell Walks It Off

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (September 8-9)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox): 0-2
Season Record: 65-73

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Harrisburg Senators (Washington Senators): 0-1
Season Record: 58-73

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Championship Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 2-0
Season Record: 64-66

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays: Season Complete

FCL Blue Jays: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Blue: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Red: Season Complete

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 65-73
• Series vs Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox)

September 8: On Tuesday, Buffalo opened up a new series, this one against the Charlotte Knights. With Drew Thorpe on the mound opposing Bisons hitters, the optimism was high for a good offensive game against a soft-tossing right-handed pitcher. What unfolded was anything but success for the Buffalo bats. Thorpe got plenty of whiffs from Buffalo hitters and induced a bunch of ground balls, all with elite changeups and well-placed fastballs. Yohendrick Piñango, Jay Harry, and Josh Kasevich all fell victim to Thorpe's changeup, while Lenyn Sosa whiffed and struck out on a rare slider. While Buffalo hitters were lost at the plate, their pitching was somewhat solid. Josh Stephan started and almost had a quality start, giving up four runs across six innings of work. Tim Elko and Junior Perez each homered off of Stephen. As the game rolled into the ninth inning, Charlotte held a 4-0 lead and was coasting. In the ninth, Rhylan Thomas singled and Kasevich doubled to get a rally going. Piñango would ground out and score Thomas from third base. Unfortunately for Buffalo, that would be all they would get, as they lost 4-1. 

September 9: Wednesday was a day for Buffalo's offense to rebound after not doing much of anything on Tuesday against Charlotte. Rudy Martin Jr. started the game right for the Bisons, smacking a solo home run in the top of the first inning. Buffalo's pitching was going well, getting three scoreless innings from Lazaro Estrada. Pat Gallagher came on to replace Estrada and immediately got into trouble, coughing up a two-run home run in the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth. Martin was locked in, though, ripping another home run in the top of the eighth, this one a two-run blast. Davis Schneider followed it with a solo shot of his own, giving Buffalo the 4-3 lead after the top of the eighth. Unfortunately for the Bisons, all of the great production they got from Martin at the plate was wiped out in the bottom of the eighth. Elko hit a ball to Martin in center for a sacrifice fly, but Martin would commit a throwing error on the play and allow a second run to score. The second run gave Charlotte the lead that they would not relinquish. Buffalo fell 5-4 on the error from Martin, wiping out his two-home run game. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 58-73
• Series vs Harrisburg Senators (Washington Senators)

September 8: New Hampshire kicked off a series with the Harrisburg Senators on Tuesday night. Johnny King was on the mound getting the start, and he saw some really good moments and then hit a few bumps in the road. King hit the first batter and gave up a double later in the inning, but was able to strike out three batters in the first: Eli Willits, Devin Fitz-Gerald, and Ethan Petry. In the second, a walk was then followed by a short home run to the opposite field by T.J. White on a pitch over the plate. Two seeing-eye singles later in the inning were erased by a lineout and a double-play groundout. In the third, King was back on track, getting a groundout and two more strikeouts. The fourth inning saw some bumps again as the Senators started with a single, double, and single for two more runs and finished King's day with a lineout. Peyton Williams homered in the ninth inning for New Hampshire, their lone run on just four hits. New Hampshire lost this one 11-1. 

September 9: Cancelled

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 64-66
• Championship Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

September 8: The Vancouver Canadians had the best record in the second half of the season, and that earned them the right to face the best team in the first half of the season, the Eugene Emeralds. Dasan Hill took the pill for game one, and he pitched a near-clean first inning, but he faced trouble in the second inning, as Jean Joseph made a fielding error then a throwing error on the same play. Hill gave up two doubles to allow two runs to score before finally getting out of the inning, striking out two more batters to bring his total to four. Holden Wilkerson replaced Hill in the third inning, and he did not pitch great, giving up six hits and three walks. In the third inning, he gave up another run, putting the Canadians down three. Maddox Latta got the Canadians on the board with a sac fly in the bottom of that inning, then in the fifth inning, Austin Smith came up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a towering grand slam to take the lead! Wilkerson gave up the lead right back as Charlie Muniz hit a three-run homer in the sixth, and Wilkerson’s inherited run ended up scoring as Jack Eshleman gave up an RBI single to make it a two-run lead for Eugene. David Calabrese started a rally in the bottom of the sixth with a triple, then Jaxson West hit a clutch double to bring the lead to one, and then the Jays Centre number one prospect JoJo Parker tied it up with a double of his own. Eshleman kept the game tied over the next two innings, and after Jaxson West advanced to third on an error in the eighth, Ryan Sprock knocked in the winning run with a sac fly. Bradley Wilson finished the game off with the save after walking the first batter, getting a lineout, then two strikeouts to scrape by with the win in Game 1, 8-7. 

September 9: Troy Guthrie took the mound in Game 2 and was excellent for the Canadians, as he struck out seven batters over five innings of work. The Canadians had themselves an early one-run lead after a Gable Mitchell sac fly in the second inning, but Guthrie made a mistake pitch after allowing a batter to reach on a single, as Cam Maldonado took him deep to give the Emeralds the lead. The Canadians regularly had traffic on the bases, as they got into scoring position in almost every inning, but runs could not score due to some untimely double plays. They finally broke through in the fifth inning, as Maddox Latta hit an RBI single to even the game up. Brandon Barriera replaced Guthrie in the sixth and had a quick 1-2-3 inning, and the Canadians got some help from the Emeralds as a wild pitch gave them the lead, and a clutch Ryan Sprock single doubled it that same inning. However, once again with the bases loaded, the Canadians made an out. Barriera came back out in the seventh, and he pitched the opposite of his first inning, walking two batters and loading the bases without getting an out. Reece Wissinger came in a tough spot; he struck out the first batter, although he allowed a run to come home on a sac fly. Wissinger got a hard grounder that Dameury Pena was able to knock down, but an errant throw allowed the batter to reach first, scoring another run and evening the game right back up. Then, Wissinger got the final out to end the inning. The game continued to be tied at four as both bullpens kept runners from scoring, and Wissinger went two more scoreless innings. Carson Myers was able to prevent the ghost runner from advancing in the 10th inning, getting two flyouts and a groundout, giving the Canadians a great chance to walk it off. Dariel Ramon came in to pinch-run as the ghost runner, and Calabrese almost walked it off with a drive to deep center field, but was able to advance Ramon to third as the center fielder made a great diving catch. Mitchell got ahead with some good takes, but Ryan Slater got him to two strikes. Mitchell fouled off some tough pitches to stay alive, and then hit a deep fly ball to right field to score the winning run with a walk-off sac fly as the C’s won the second game of the series to be one game away from winning the whole thing! 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 62-66

Season Completed

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 38-20

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 20-35

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18 Playoffs (2-1)

Season Completed

Transactions

09/09/26     Toronto Blue Jays sent RF Anthony Santander on a rehab assignment to Buffalo Bisons.
09/08/26     Buffalo Bisons activated RF Rudy Martin Jr. from the 7-day IL.
09/08/26     Buffalo Bisons transferred RHP Tanner Andrews from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL.
09/08/26     Buffalo Bisons activated C Shawn Ross.
09/08/26     Buffalo Bisons activated LF RJ Schreck from the 60-day IL.
09/08/26     1B Peyton Williams assigned to New Hampshire Fisher Cats from Buffalo Bisons.
09/08/26     RHP Gage Stanifer assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
09/08/26     Dunedin Blue Jays placed SS Owen Gregg on the full-season IL.
09/08/26     SS Josh Rivera assigned to New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
09/08/26     New Hampshire Fisher Cats transferred C Jacob Sharp from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL.
09/08/26     Vancouver Canadians transferred RHP Dylan Watts from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL.

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