Blue Jays Minor League Recap: DSL Blue Jays Red Starts Playoff Run, Sean Keys Powers Buffalo

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (August 20-21)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 1-3
Season Record: 61-63

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers): 2-2
Season Record: 54-62

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 2-2
Season Record: 56-62

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 3-2
Season Record: 55-60

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: 61-63
• Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

August 20: John Klein made his fourth start for Buffalo on Thursday, and it was a relatively short outing with more downs than ups. Klein would only last three innings, giving up four hits and two runs, while striking out just three. Devereaux Harrison would be the first man out of the bullpen for the Bisons, and he fared about the same as Klein. Harrison would also throw three innings, but gave up just three hits, struck out two, and surrendered three runs. With the pitching having a rough day, there was a lot of pressure on the bats to perform and do it at a high level. The hits were aplenty, but out of their 13 hits, 11 were singles and just two went for extra-base hits. Jay Harry paced Buffalo with three singles, while Carlos Mendoza and Nick Goodwin each had two singles. Peyton Williams only had one hit, but it was one of the two extra-base hits, a solo blast in the second inning. In the third, Yohendrick Piñango hit a ball to center for a sacrifice fly that scored Harry. Later in the inning, Goodwin singled home Sean Keys. Mendoza cut the Lehigh Valley lead to one in the sixth with a single to right, scoring Ismael Munguia. Down by three in the ninth, Buffalo tried to mount a rally, getting an RBI single from Keys, but that would be all they would get. The Bisons fell to Lehigh Valley 7-5. 

August 21: Sean Keys decided to provide all of the fireworks needed for the Friday night festivities. Keys smoked a three-run blast to center in the third inning. The home run came off the bat at 103 mph and went 413 feet to center field. In the fifth, it was Keys again, this time hitting a moonshot to right field with a launch angle of 40 degrees. The result was a two-run home run, and the Buffalo lead extended to 5-0. In the sixth, Jay Harry had an RBI single and Yohendrick Piñango had a two-RBI single. With the offense rolling, Buffalo put on cruise control, as Richard Gallardo, Austin Marozas, and Lazaro Estrada combined for a shutout. The Bisons won 8-0 thanks to two long balls by Keys. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 54-62
• Series vs Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers)

August 20: In the Thursday matchup between New Hampshire and Erie, it was the Aaron Parker show. He went 2-for-4, with two home runs and three RBI. He crushed a home run in the first and then again in the fifth inning. In between, pitcher Danny Thompson Jr. had some issues on the mound. He gave up four runs on four hits and four walks. Alexis Hernandez continued his hot hitting by reaching base twice, on a double and a walk. That would be a good chunk of the offense, though, as New Hampshire lost this one 6-3. 

August 21: Johnny King was on the mound to start the Friday game between New Hampshire and Erie. He got the first two batters to fly out, then got behind Peyton Graham, who launched a fastball off the top of the wall for a double. King got behind Thayron Liranzo as well, who crushed a line drive off of King for an RBI single. King finished the inning and then was shaky in the second inning with his command. He still managed to get a strikeout and allowed just a walk. In the third through fifth innings, King locked in and cruised through the innings. He finished with five innings pitched, only allowed the two hits, maybe more importantly walked just one, and gave up one run total. King struck out three on the day, as he gave way to Gage Stanifer for his second appearance out of the bullpen this week. Stanifer looked very good this go-around. Pitching two innings, not allowing a hit or a walk, and striking out two. Dub Gleed's RBI double was the offense for New Hampshire until the ninth inning. Carter Cunningham had a sacrifice fly, and Cutter Coffey drove in two with a single. New Hampshire held on and won this one 4-2. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 56-62
• Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

August 20: This was a back-and-forth offensive game, as the starters for both teams struggled. Connor O'Halloran pitched two scoreless innings, but had a rough third inning, allowing five straight singles, walking a batter with the bases loaded, then allowing an RBI groundout for four runs to score in that inning. Jean Joseph hit a three-run homer to right to even it up, and the inning after Bryce Chance and Gable Mitchell both hit RBI singles to make it a two-run lead. The Emeralds took it to a one-run game with a homer from Damian Bravo, but Jake Casey made it a two-run game again with an RBI double. A JoJo Parker throwing error allowed the Emeralds to even it up, and an inning after Jack Eshleman gave up a three-run homer, which ended up being the winning runs as they lost 10-7.

August 21: It was another slugfest, and Austin Smith started it off with a bang with a leadoff homer. Bryce Chance had an RBI groundout to make it a 2-0 lead, but Dasan Hill gave back a run in the first inning. Jake Casey added back two runs for the Canadians with a double, but Hill couldn’t get out of the third inning, as the Emeralds tied it up. The game continued to go back and forth as JoJo Parker’s RBI grounder took the lead, then Holden Wilkerson lost it on a two-run homer to Jose Ramos. Casey’s second extra-base hit of the night flipped the lead again, then Wilkerson ended up giving the lead right back. Dariel Ramon made it nine runs for the Canadians in regulation, but the Emeralds would not go away, as the game was tied in the eighth inning, sending the game to extras. Casey officially won it for Vancouver as he hit a three-run homer in the tenth, and despite Carson Myers allowing the automatic runner to score, he had his fourth save of the season as they won it 12-10 in extras. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 55-60
• Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

August 20: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made his return to his old stomping grounds, as he was placed on rehab assignment after being put on the seven-day concussion IL. He immediately made an impact, driving in the first run of the game on an RBI double in the first. He also walked twice before being taken out. The starter for the Jays was Carson Messina, who struck out six batters in just 2.2 innings pitched, but struggled with his command, giving up four hits and two walks, which resulted in two earned runs given up. Deiker Pineda replaced him in relief and allowed two more runs, which gave the Threshers the lead. The Jays tied it up with Jake Cook’s fourth homer of the season, and Aldo Gaxiola gave them the lead an inning after with one of his own, and they never looked back. They added some insurance runs with some RBI singles from Owen Carapellotti and Blaine Bullard, while Josbel Garcia and Dax Dathe closed it out in relief without allowing a run. 

August 21: Denis Samudio bounced back from his last rough start, going five innings of one-run ball, striking out five batters, but walked four batters. The Jays got their first run of the game on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, as Blaine Bullard showed some heads-up baserunning and stole home, tying the game up. The Jays were able to break the game open in the fifth inning, as they tallied five hits and a walk, capped off by Dameury Pena’s two-RBI double for a big five-run inning. They kept their foot on the gas in the sixth inning, this time scoring four in the sixth inning, thanks to a Jake Cook two-RBI triple. The Jays have now won three in a row, this time winning 10-2. 

FCL Blue Jays

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18
• Playoffs: 2-0 (now 2-1)

August 20: BJR began pool play for the DSL playoffs on Thursday. Their first opponent was the Tampa Rays’ DSL team (TAM). Aneudi Severino and Darwin Núñez each had RBI singles in the first inning to jump BJR out to an early lead. After TAM tied the game in the top of the third, Gabriel Porras and Samuel Orellana gave it back to BJR with RBI singles of their own in the bottom half of the frame. In the bottom of the fifth, Elian Reyes really broke the game open for BJR; he smacked a double to right with the bases loaded, scoring two, while Darwin Núñez was thrown out at home. BJR got another run in the frame with an RBI groundout by Ayberson Ortega. In the sixth, two sacrifice flies by Severino and Jose Gori, as well as an RBI single from Darwin Núñez, extended the BJR lead further. Porras wrapped up the scoring for BJR in the seventh with an RBI single. BJR rolled to a big 11-5. 

August 21: In their second pool play game, BJR faced the Cubs’ DSL team (CUB). It was Cristhian Duarte who was the bright spot for BJR. Duarte threw five innings of one-run baseball and struck out five to give BJR a solid chance at winning their second game in a row. An RBI single by Samuel Orellana in the first and a sacrifice fly by Darwin Núñez gave BJR an early lead again. Aneudi Severino and Ayberson Ortega each had two-RBI singles in the third inning, and Gabriel Porras doubled home a run in the fourth. BJR cruised to a 7-2 win, going 2-0 in their first two games of the DSL playoffs.

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