Blue Jays Minor League Recap: DSL Blue Jays Red Clinch Playoffs, Homer Spree in Vancouver and Dunedin

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (August 18- 19)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 0-2
Season Record: 60-62

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers): 1-1
Season Record: 53-61

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 1-1
Season Record: 55-61

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 1-2
Season Record: 53-60

FCL Blue Jays: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 0-1
Season Record: 20-35

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 1-0
Season Record: 34-18

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 60-62
• Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

August 18: Tuesday was the start of a new series for Buffalo, this one against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Bisons sent Grant Rogers to the mound, who did a fairly decent job of holding the bats from Lehigh in check. Rogers had one of his usual starts, giving up a bunch of hits (eight), but limiting the walks (one). He would have to pitch around traffic on the basepaths all game, which he has become accustomed to. He did well the first three innings, not allowing any of the base runners to cross home plate. In the fourth, though, the IronPigs finally broke through with an RBI double by Christian Cairo. In the fifth, Rogers surrendered a two-run home run to Kameron Misner. After Lehigh Valley got an out and a double in the seventh, Rogers gave way to Javen Coleman, who couldn't keep the runner off the board, as the IronPigs' lead jumped to 4-0. Following another run in the top of the eighth inning by Lehigh Valley, Buffalo finally got a run on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Josh Kasevich singled, then Sean Keys ripped a ball to right field for an RBI triple, scoring Kasevich. In the bottom of the ninth, Jay Harry doubled and Carlos Mendoza singled, but they were left stranded on the basepaths when Rudy Martin Jr. grounded out to end the game. Buffalo fell 5-1. 

August 19: Josh Stephan was on the mound for Buffalo on Wednesday, trying to right the ship and get the Bisons in the win column for the series against Lehigh Valley. Stephan came out of the gates locked in, striking out all three batters in the first inning, only throwing one straight pitch (a sinker). In the second inning, he started out throwing the sinker and got two ground outs on the pitch and a strikeout with the cutter. In the third inning, Lehigh Valley finally got to Stephan, with two singles and a two-RBI double by Tommy Pham. Stephan would end his outing throwing six innings, giving up just the two runs, and striking out seven. The Buffalo bats were stymied again by the IronPigs pitching. Their lone run came in the bottom of the seventh, as Ismael Munguia and William Simoneit each singled to open the frame. The base knocks were followed by a sacrifice bunt from Carlos Mendoza and a sacrifice by Yohendrick Piñango. In the bottom of the eighth, Buffalo had a great scoring chance, leading off the inning with three consecutive walks to load the bases. Then Kirby Snead came into the game for Lehigh Valley and proceeded to strike out Nick Goodwin, Munguia, and Simoneit all in a row, without a ball being put into play. Buffalo fell again, this time 2-1. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 53-61
• Series vs Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers)

August 18: Nolan Perry got the start Tuesday in the opener of the week-long series between New Hampshire and Erie. He worked hitters well and didn't give up a lot of hard contact. He struck out just two on the day and gave up a two-run home run to Zyhir Hope in the third inning. Perry also surrendered a walk and four hits total over his four innings. Down one in the fourth, Edward Duran and Cutter Coffey drove in three runs on RBI singles from each. Gage Stanifer came in for the eighth inning again and surrendered one run as well. He gave up singles to Hope and Thayron Liranzo before a wild pitch scored Hope. After walking a batter, Stanifer locked in with two strikeouts in between another wild pitch. In the ninth, Hope tied the game with an RBI single to send the game into extra innings. After the two teams exchanged runs in the 10th inning, Victor Arias hit an RBI triple in the eleventh inning, which was the winning run because Erie failed to score in their half of the frame. New Hampshire won 6-5. 

August 19: Erie took the early lead in the Wednesday game with New Hampshire. Zyhir Hope had a sacrifice fly in the first and Luke Shliger hit an RBI double in the second inning. J.R. Freethy got New Hampshire on the board in the fifth inning, and they kept it rolling in the sixth. Carter Cunningham drove in Dub Gleed (who had three hits on the day) and then was followed by Alexis Hernandez driving in a run on a single, followed by a bases-loaded walk. Thayron Liranzo answered, though, crushing a home run in the Erie half of the sixth. Erie would then score the next two more runs and hold off New Hampshire. The Fisher Cats lost this one 6-5. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 55-61
• Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

August 18: The Canadians face off against the league-leading Emeralds once again, and some early plate discipline and solid baserunning let the Canadians strike first after an early error by the shortstop. Maddox Latta’s fourth homer in the month of August made it a 4-0 lead, as the undrafted free agent has been on fire. Landen Maroudis also looked decent, going five innings for the sixth start in a row, but in the third inning with two outs, Maroudis made a mistake pitch that allowed the Emeralds to bring it within one with a three-run homer. Despite the blemish, Maroudis was able to strike out six batters and ended up getting the win thanks to some timely homers from Jake Casey, as he homered in the sixth to double the lead to two, and then in the sixth inning had a two-run homer to make it a five-run game. He added another sac fly in the eighth to make it four total RBIs in the game, almost matching the Emeralds’ total runs scored. The bullpen also struck out seven batters to close out the game, allowing only two runs as they won this one 10-5. 

August 19: Silvano Hechavarria struck out five of the first six batters he faced, but then faced disaster in the third inning, as the big Cuban righty allowed five runs to put the Canadians in a big hole. Ramon Marquez was also excellent for Eugene, as he pitched a quality start and allowed two runs on a JoJo Parker two-RBI double in the sixth. Austin Smith had himself a two-homer night to bring it closer, but they couldn’t get over the hump of the five runs Hechavarria gave up in the third, resulting in a 6-4 loss for Vancouver. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 53-60
• Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

August 18: Jack Nedrow pitched another strong start, although he only struck out one batter, allowing two runs, with one of them being unearned. The big bats in the Dunedin lineup gave them the lead as Giaconino Lasaracina hit a 105.7 mph homer to tie it in the fifth, and Jake Bennett’s homer barrage continued as he hit a two-run homer in the sixth to make it a two-run lead. Unfortunately for the Jays, Edrwin Veras gave up the equivalent of batting practice to the Threshers, as the reliever gave up 10 hits and six runs over two innings, without striking out a batter nor walking one. The offense could not recover from the thrashing on the other end, so the Jays ended up losing this one 8-4.

August 19, Game 1: Miguel Pantoja got his first start in Dunedin after performing well in the Florida Complex League, and he pitched 3.2 innings, allowing two runs, but only one of them was earned. Owen Carapellotti homered in the second inning, which made it a tie ballgame, but he made a throwing error in the fourth, which gave the Threshers the lead. The D-Jays got a couple of runs back on a sac fly and an RBI groundout. After Pantajo was taken out, however, the dam broke loose, as they scored five runs on Nolan Higgins in the fifth inning. Carapellotti hit his second homer of the night to bring it within two, and Joe Mantiply pitched a 1-2-3 inning on rehab assignment, but the Jays couldn’t bring it back, falling 7-5. 

Game 2: This was a make-up game for a missing game from July, and Karson Ligon was once again the starter. He struck out the side in the first inning, but faced traffic in the second inning due to a catcher’s interference as well as a throwing error from Dameury Pena, which resulted in two runs being scored. Giaconino Lasaracina hit a mammoth tank 112.4 mph and 457 feet for the Jays’ first run, and Raimundo De Los Santos took the lead with a two-run homer in the same inning. Ligon was taken out in the fourth, and Landon Waters and Reese Bassinger both pitched two scoreless innings each to clinch the win for the Jays. Lasaracina had the cherry on top, as he hit another homer in the fourth for an insurance run at 109.4 mph this time. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 38-20

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 19-35

August 18: BJB wrapped up their season down on the island with two big innings and some fireworks as well. Down 3-0 headed into the top of the fifth inning, BJB loaded up the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch, then Isay Veras came to the plate. After his at-bat was over, BJB had the lead, as Veras sent a ball over the right field fence for a grand slam; the blast was his fourth of the season. After surrendering the lead back to the Giants Orange (GIO) team, BJB was in a one-run hole to begin the seventh. After Deret Gonzalez struck out, Cristopher Polanco launched his second home run of the season to right field, a solo shot. Later in the inning, Fabian Gonzalez ripped a ball to left and cleared the bases for a three-run triple. The three-run lead stuck, as BJB won their final game of the season, 8-5. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18

August 18: BJR put up enough runs on the scoreboard Tuesday to get the win and end the regular season on a high note. In the first, BJR scored on a wild pitch, an RBI groundout by Darwin Nuñez, and then a double steal of home and second by Aneudi Severino and Elian Reyes. Reyes then doubled home a run in the third inning on a fly ball to right field. Jose Gori would add an RBI on a groundout to third base later in the inning. Reyes would cap off his big game with another RBI single in the fifth. The six runs were enough for BJR to take home the win 6-4 and move on to the playoffs that began Thursday. 

Transactions

08/19/26    Toronto Blue Jays sent LHP Joe Mantiply on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
08/19/26    RHP Miguel Pantoja assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.

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