Blue Jays Minor League Recap: The Canadians' Win Streak Is Broken, but Max Scherzer Looks Sharp in Buffalo

CURRENT W-L Records

• Buffalo Bisons: 29-40
• New Hampshire Fisher Cats: 29-36
• Vancouver Canadians: 36-29
• Dunedin Blue Jays: 33-31
• FCL Blue Jays: 19-14
• DSL Blue Jays Blue: 2-8
• DSL Blue Jays Red: 4-7

Transactions

• 06/18/25: Toronto Blue Jays sent RF Nathan Lukes on a rehab assignment to Buffalo Bisons.
• 06/17/25: Buffalo Bisons activated RHP Jacob Barnes from the 7-day injured list.
• 06/17/25: Toronto Blue Jays recalled RHP Paxton Schultz from Buffalo Bisons.
• 06/17/25: Toronto Blue Jays selected the contract of LHP Justin Bruihl from Buffalo Bisons.
• 06/17/25: Toronto Blue Jays sent RHP Ryan Burr on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
• 06/17/25: Dunedin Blue Jays placed RHP Christian Mracna on the full-season injured list.
• 06/17/25: FCL Blue Jays placed C Luis Meza on the full-season injured list.

Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo (4), Worcester (5) - 6/17
Box Score

The Buffalo Bisons began a series on Tuesday with the Worcester Red Sox. Lazaro Estrada got the ball as the starting pitcher for the Bisons in this one, and he delivered another quality performance. He baffled the Red Sox hitters for four innings, only surrendering two hits, one earned run, and two walks, while striking out four. The one run came in the third inning in the form of a Nick Sogard home run. In the fifth, after Estrada came out of the game, the Red Sox would pounce for four more runs, taking a 5-0 lead. They scored on a Wilyer Abreu single, a sacrifice fly, a Vaughn Grissom RBI double, and a bases-loaded walk. The Buffalo bats came alive toward the end of the game. In the sixth, they got things started with their first run on a double-play ball. Then in the seventh, two groundouts, one from Will Wagner and one from Michael Stefanic, added two more runs. Yohendrick Pinango doubled in the fourth run for the Bisons in the eighth inning. That would be where the scoring ended though, as Buffalo lost this one 5-4. 

Yohendrick Pinango: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Lazaro Estrada: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Buffalo (14), Worcester (1) - 6/18
Box Score

Buffalo jumped out early in this one, when they put up five runs in the top of the second inning. Josh Rivera singled in a run, there were two bases-loaded walks, Nathan Lukes drove in a run, and a third bases-loaded walk of the inning brought in the fifth run. It was all Buffalo from there, as Max Scherzer was on the mound and he looked lights out. He went 4.1 innings and only gave up one hit, two walks, and no runs. He struck out eight and looked like he could be up in Toronto for his next start. Jacob Barnes and Adam Kloffenstein combined to go the rest of the way and only surrendered three hits and one run themselves. The Buffalo offense was cooking though, as they would smash 12 hits, take nine walks, and put 14 runs up on the scoreboard. Lukes and Rainer Nunez added home runs in the fifth and sixth innings to provide the power for the Bisons. Buffalo would win this easily, 14-1. 

Nathan Lukes: 3-4, 1 R, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 

Max Scherzer: 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats
New Hampshire (3), Somerset (5) F/7 -  6/18 - Game 1
Box Score

After a rainout Tuesday night, the series opener with Somerset was moved to a doubleheader on Wednesday. In game one, New Hampshire sent Juaron Watts-Brown to the mound to set the tone for the week, and he did that and more. Watts-Brown was locked in from the get-go, sitting down hitters via the strikeout and in waves. He struck out the side in the top of the first inning, got two more swinging in the second, and three in the third. Unfortunately, for New Hampshire, the three in the third were sandwiched in between a couple of walks and a throwing error by Watts-Brown on a pickoff attempt that allowed a run to score. In the fourth, Somerset went quietly, thanks to a caught stealing after a walk. The fifth inning, though, saw Watts-Brown unable to pitch over a Charles McAdoo error, on his way to giving up a two-run home run to Roc Riggio. The home run tied it up at three; New Hampshire had gotten three runs in the bottom of the fourth on two errors from Somerset. New Hampshire was unable to add any more runs, but Somerset put two on the scoreboard, which included one from a Spencer Jones single in the top of the seventh. New Hampshire fell in game one 5-3. 

Charles McAdoo: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SB

Juaron Watts-Brown: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K

New Hampshire (1), Somerset (6) F/7 - 6/19 - Game 2
Box Score

In game two of the doubleheader, New Hampshire had prospect stud Trey Yesavage going in a much-anticipated matchup. He got through the first two innings, only giving up one walk and striking out two. The top of the third inning would prove to be one of the worst for Yesavage this season. After striking out the lead-off hitter, he gave up a double to Max Burt, who would score on the next batter's single. After walking George Lombard Jr., he struck out Jones, then gave up a three-run home run to Dylan Jasso. His night was over at that point, giving way to Nate Garkow. New Hampshire got their lone run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on Peyton Williams’ single that scored McAdoo. In a stunner to fans, New Hampshire got swept on the night, losing game two 6-1. 

Charles McAdoo: 1-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 2B

Nate Garkow: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Vancouver Canadians
Vancouver (12), Eugene (8) - 6/17
Box Score

Vancouver continued their hot streak with another high-scoring affair, as they looked to win 11 games in a row. Jackson Wentworth was the starter for this game but went only 2.2 innings, allowing three earned runs, walking three, and allowing four hits. He did strike out four batters, but Wentworth has been struggling for more than a month. In his past seven starts, he’s allowed three or more earned runs in six of them. Fortunately, the offense picked up him up, as the Canadians started off with an early lead, with Victor Arias hitting his fourth homer of the season on the first at-bat of the game, then Je’Von Ward scored Aaron Parker on a double, before Arias came back to bat a second time in the second inning to hit an RBI single to make it 3-0 Canadians. The Emeralds then scored three runs in the second and third innings, which knocked Wentworth out of the game. The Canadians answered back with some power though, as Eddie Micheletti Jr. hit his ninth homer of the season to score two more runs, and Sean Keys tacked on two more with a two-run single in the fourth inning. Kai Peterson gave up a three-run homer to make it 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth, but Arjun Nimmala answered back with a two-run homer of his own in the top of the sixth. Keys got RBI number 43 (second-most in the Northwest League) with a double to score Cutter Coffey, before Parker broke it up with another homer for the Canadians to score Keys as well. Yondrei Rojas did give up a two-run homer to Jack Payton, but with the Canadians up by so much, it was too little, too late. Edinson Batista came in and shut down the scoring to end the game, going 2.1 scoreless.

Victor Arias: 3-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
The 21-year-old outfielder has had a really strong June, with his fourth game of three hits in just this month. He’s up to a 158 wRC+ on the month, hitting .328/.379/.590.

Edinson Batista: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Batista has pitched ten innings in his last four appearances, only allowing one run with 11 strikeouts to two walks. It's been nice to see him have a good stretch because he had a hard time at first after getting traded from the Astros organization. 

Vancouver (1), Eugene (8) - 6/18
Box Score

Vancouver had a chance to clinch the first-half title thanks to their scorching hot win streak, but both the offense and the pitching sputtered in game two of this series. Gage Stanifer had been awesome all season long, but for the first time this season, he couldn’t last two innings, going 1.2 IP. He struggled to get batters out with a bit of bad BABIP luck; he gave up five singles on the night to go with four strikeouts and a walk. He had thrown 50 pitches before the second inning ended, so Jose Mayorga took him out for Irv Carter, who went three innings of two-run ball. Aaron Munson came in next and gave up three runs himself, and Julio Ortiz gave up a run as well. All four pitchers were able to strike out two or more batters, but also each gave up at least one run. Vancouver pitchers gave up 16 hits and walked five in this one. The only run of the game for the Canadians came on a Coffey line drive to Jonah Cox that scored Arias after he doubled.

Cutter Coffey: 3-4, 1 RBI
Coffey had a hot start to the series, going 7-for-10 with three doubles in just two games. 

Irv Carter: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Dunedin Blue Jays
Dunedin (0), Clearwater (2) - 6/17 
Box Score

The Dunedin Blue Jays went over to Clearwater again but couldn’t get anything going offensively. The top of the order struggled to get on base, as none of the top four got any hits and combined for just three walks. The bottom of the order had all five of the hits, as Jean Joseph went 2-for-4, and Kendry Chirinos had two doubles on the night. Manuel Beltre added a hit and a walk, but none of them could score as the top of the order let them down. The pitching was solid for the D-Jays as Colby Holcombe went five solid innings, Ryan Burr had another good rehab appearance, and Jay Schueler and Javen Coleman also pitched scoreless innings, but without scoring a run there was nothing else that could be done. 

Kendry Chirinos: 2-3, 2 2B

Colby Holcombe: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Dunedin (5), Clearwater (6) - 6/18 - (11 innings)
Box Score

Clearwater and Dunedin had an early noon game, and it went to extra innings, with the teams trading runs back and forth. Bryce Arnold hit a homer on the first at-bat of the game, a 103.5-mph, 379-foot bomb off of Clearwater starter Orlando Gonzalez. Tucker Toman added to that lead, scoring Joseph on a line drive to right to give the Jays an early 2-0 lead. No more runs scored until the sixth inning, with Brady Day breaking the scoreless streak with a single off of Juanmi Vasquez. A passed ball from Jacob Lojewski allowed another run to score for the Threshers, which made it an even 2-2 game. No one else scored for either team, so they went to extra innings, with Toman scoring the ghost runner in the top of the 10th, but the Threshers tied it up with a sac fly from Kodey Shojinaga. Yhoangel Aponte and Lojewski both hit doubles in the top of the 11th to make it 5-3 and give the D-Jays a good chance to win, but Jack Eshleman gave up two singles in the bottom of that inning to allow the Threshers to tie it up. Then Eminen Flores allowed Dante Nori to walk it off with an RBI single, as the D-Jays lost a tight one. 

Tucker Toman: 2-5, 2 RBI

Hayden Juenger: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 K
Juenger looked sharp in his rehab appearance, taking only 17 pitches to get six batters out with two strikeouts. He was sitting 95 mph with his fastball. 

FCL Blue Jays
F-BLU (1), F-TIG (4) - 6/17
Box Score

The Tigers’ FCL team got on the scoreboard in this game on an error by the Blue Jays' team. This set the tone for the game, and it wasn't pretty. Drew Jemison homered in the third inning for the Blue Jays to tie things up, but that was pretty much all they could do in the game. In the fifth inning, the Tigers' squad would put up a three-spot, this time on a three-run home run by Cole Turney to center field. The Blue Jays' team would have a single in the sixth from J.R. Freethy, but that was their last hit. They only connected for three hits in the seven-inning game, and they would lose 4-1. 

Drew Jemison: 1-1, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

Connor Overton: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

DSL Blue Jays Blue
D-BJB (6), D-MRL (7) F/7 - 6/17
Box Score

BJB took on the Marlins' DSL team (MRL) Tuesday morning down in the Dominican Republic. J.T. Bain tied the game up at one in the top of the second inning, when he tripled home Darwin Nunez. Nunez would then give BJB the lead by two on his two-run single, scoring Yeicer Crespo and Angel Guzman. In the bottom of the third, MRL put up a three-spot to take the lead back. BJB tied it in the fourth on an error by MRL's first baseman. Anthony Abreu gave MRL the lead for good in the fourth with his two-run home run. Crespo cut into the lead in the sixth with his first home run of the season, a deep ball to center. BJB fell to MRL 7-6. 

Yeicer Crespo: 2-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 HR

Juan Ramirez: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

DSL Blue Jays Red
D-BJR (0), D-RNR (17)  - 6/17
Box Score

BJR took a beating on Tuesday when they faced the Texas Rangers Red team (RNR). BJB only managed one hit in the rare nine-inning DSL game. On the flip side, they committed five errors and walked 13 en route to coughing up a whopping 17 runs. Three of the errors came from third baseman Juan Sanchez. Forget it and move on, as they say. 

Randy Soto: 1-2, 2 BB

Wilfredo Cordero: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Players of the Period

• Pitcher of the Period: RHP Juaron Watts-Brown (New Hampshire): 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
• Hitter of the Period: 3B Charles McAdoo (New Hampshire): 3-5, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 SB

Prospect Summary (Last 2 Days)

Interested in learning more about the Toronto Blue Jays' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!