Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Losses Pile Up, FCL Jays Can Hit, Micheletti Plays Hero, Kirk and Dunedin Get Hot

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (June 6-8)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox): 1-5
Season Record: 28-35

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates): 3-3
Season Record: 29-25

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels): 3-3
Season Record: 23-34

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Daytona Tortugas (Cincinnati Reds): 5-1
Season Record: 25-32

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 3-2
Season Record: 20-7

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 3-2
Season Record: 3-3

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

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 28-35
• Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)

June 6: Saturday's game against Worcester would feature the third straight major league arm pitching on a rehab assignment for Buffalo. While optimism was high for Buffalo, the results were not as encouraging. Shane Bieber was touched up almost immediately, as he gave up runs in the first and second innings. In the first, back-to-back RBI doubles would give the early lead to Worcester. Bieber left a changeup and fastball over the middle of the plate, and both pitches were hit hard (over 100 mph on the exit velocities). It was another fastball that Bieber left middle-in to Tyler McDonough that he crushed 409 feet to right field for a solo home run in the second inning. For the game, Bieber pitched 2.2 innings, gave up six hits and three runs, while striking out three. He didn't walk anyone, which was the bright spot, but he couldn't locate his 92 mph fastball at all. With the Bisons down three, Jonatan Clase knocked in a run in the fourth, with an RBI double, scoring William Simoneit. In the fifth, Davis Schneider finally got a hit, an RBI single. Clase would again be in the middle of the action in the sixth, scoring the game-tying run on a throwing error. Conor Larkin took over on the mound for Buffalo in the bottom of the sixth, and he was off the mark to say the least. An error by Sean Keys helped Worcester out, but Larkin gave up a two-RBI double, a sacrifice fly, and an RBI single. Buffalo attempted a miracle comeback in the top of the ninth, they loaded the bases up, and Simoneit drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to three. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Clase flew out to end the game, as the Bisons fell 7-4. 

June 7: Grant Rogers took the mound on Sunday with one goal in mind: to help end Buffalo's losing streak. The bottom of the first inning was not the start he wanted. He gave up three hits and a walk to open the frame, which would put Buffalo down 1-0. Later in the inning, Matt Lloyd added two more runs to Worcester's lead with a two-RBI single. Willie MacIver cut into the Red Sox's lead in the top of the second inning. He crushed a ball 407 feet for a solo home run. Carlos Mendoza added an RBI single in the inning as well, further decreasing Worcester's lead. Worcester was just too much for Rogers and his pitch-to-contact style; they added a run from a sacrifice fly and an RBI double before he was removed from the game in the fifth. Josh Rivera hit his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot in the seventh to cut the lead to two. It would be the closest Buffalo would get, as Worcester won again, this time 5-3. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 29-25
• Series vs Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates)

June 6: It was a back-and-forth game on Saturday for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and the Altoona Curve. In the first inning, Altoona took a one-run lead when Callan Moss doubled in a run. The Fisher Cats answered in the third inning, aided by some wildness from Altoona. Three walks loaded the bases to begin the inning, and then Carter Cunningham cleared them with a three-run double. The top of the fourth saw the reverse, though, with Altoona getting on base via a few walks and a hit-by-pitch. In the inning, they had two RBI singles and an RBI double to bring in six runs total. They added another RBI in the sixth inning before New Hampshire started their comeback. In the bottom of the inning, Jorge Burgos doubled in a run, followed by Nick Goodwin doubling in two more. A wild pitch scored their seventh run, and Aaron Parker doubled in the tying run in the eighth inning. In extras, Eddie Micheletti Jr. came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th inning and walked off the game with another RBI double for New Hampshire, who won 9-8. 

June 7: The Sunday game between New Hampshire and Altoona was a tough one all around for the Fisher Cats. Gage Stanifer was on the mound facing the Curve for the second time in the week, and his command wasn't there with the fastball or split. In the first, Stanifer walked the first batter and fell behind 3-0 to Titus Dumitru, who hit a fastball over the plate for a home run. After that, he pitched mainly with his slider, which was his best pitch of the day. He got eight straight outs with six of them coming on the ground. In the fourth, though, he hung a split over the middle of the plate again for a home run. He would rebound and finish the inning. On the offensive side, New Hampshire managed just one hit in the game, a double from Jay Harry. New Hampshire lost this one 4-0.

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 23-34
• Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels)

June 6: Holden Wilkerson had his first start of the season, as previously he’s been piggybacking after Johnny King throughout the season. He tied his season high in innings pitched, but the righty struggled, giving up nine hits, six runs, and two walks, raising his season ERA to 5.14. The offense similarly struggled as well, as although J.R. Freethy got an early run in with a double in the second, the Canadians had a scoring drought until the eighth inning, with Dub Gleed hitting a two-run homer to make it 7-3. Jonathan Todd pitched three solid innings in relief, but Ryan Nicholson hit his second homer of the night in the eighth inning to put the Canadians away for good, as they lost 8-3. 

June 7: Landen Maroudis seems to have taken a step back after his first few strong starts in Vancouver, as he’s now earned his fifth loss and his fifth start in a row with three or more runs given up. Jacob Sharp hit his sixth homer of the season in the first for the only run of the game for Vancouver, but the rest of the game was all Tri-City. They scored four runs off of Maroudis, and although there were 2.2 innings of reprieve when Jack Eshleman allowed zero runs, Gilberto Batista gave up a two-run homer in the seventh as he also continued to struggle this season, to make it 6-1 for the Dust Devils. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 25-32
• Series vs Daytona Tortugas (Cincinnati Reds)

June 6: It took Alejandro Kirk rehabbing with the D-Jays and a series against the worst team in the Florida State League, but the D-Jays are on a winning streak. After losing the first game of the series, they have now rattled off four straight wins, thanks to a great pitching performance from Blake Purnell, who earned his first professional win, pitching five innings with six strikeouts, allowing only one run in the second inning. The Jays didn’t score a run until the fourth inning, where Raimundo De Los Santos had his first homer as a D-Jay to even it up. Eric Snow hit an RBI single in the fifth inning on a night he was DHing, to give the Jays the lead, and in the sixth inning, the Tortugas committed two errors, which led to a run scoring, then Yorman Licourt cleared the bases with a three-run homer for a four-run inning, taking advantage of some shoddy defense. The Jays' bullpen pitched well, allowing only a single run, and the D-Jays won 6-2.

June 7: The Jays looked to take their win streak to five, and Silvano Hechavarria finally had himself a good start since getting back in Dunedin, going a season-high five innings. He gave up a couple of doubles in the third for the first run of the game, but that was the only run that he let up, striking out five batters on the night. The Jays got that run right back as well, with Jake Cook hitting his first triple of the season before getting driven in by Blaine Bullard. Adam Hackenberg crossed home plate after hitting a single, moving to third after a double from Raimundo De Los Santos, then going home on a wild pitch. Juan Sanchez hit a big double in the fifth inning for an extra insurance run, and Cook had his second extra-base hit of the night in the sixth inning to make it a 4-1 lead. Yimi García had another scoreless inning, and although Bradley Wilson allowed a run, he got his first hold, and Angel Obando pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, allowing the Jays to win their fifth straight.

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 20-7

June 6: Giacomo Taschin was on the mound for the FCL Blue Jays and set the tone against the FCL Phillies team. He went four innings and only allowed one hit. He didn't give up a run or a walk and struck out seven. The offense for the Blue Jays squad was destroying the baseball again. They hit four home runs in the game, one each from Giaconino Lasaracina, Jean Joseph, Hedbert Perez, Owen Gregg, and Renyel Campos. Gregg was 4-for-5 on the day, with three runs and three RBI. The Blue Jays team had 15 hits and 16 runs on their way to a big 16-3 win. 

June 8: On Monday against the FCL Tigers, the FCL Blue Jays didn't fare as well with the bats. Angel Guzman continued his hot stretch, hitting his fourth home run in a week in the fifth inning. The second run of the game for the Blue Jays came from a double by Franklin Rojas in the third inning. Those two runs were enough, though, as the Tigers team scored six in the first inning, with the big hit coming from Steven Madero on a grand slam. The FCL Blue Jays lost this one 8-2. 

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 3-3

June 8: Roberto Castellanos made his second appearance in a game for BJB this season, and he was dialed in. He pitched five innings, only gave up one hit, didn't allow a run to score, and struck out four. For the offense, they were keen to be thieves on the basepaths, swiping five bags, which included two double steals of second and home. BJV scored six runs in the game, two off the steals, two from sacrifice flies (one by Samuel Orellana and the other by Michael Mesa), a run from a wild pitch, and the last when the opposing catcher threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt. BJB won this one 6-0. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 1-5

June 6: BJR was a hot mess on the field Saturday down on the island. They committed three errors, their pitchers walked 11 batters, and their bats only managed six hits in the game. Aneudi Severino was one of the bright spots for BJR; he had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning, a single in the third, and walked in the fifth. Another standout was Luis Nunez, who had a double, a walk, and a run scored for the game. There wasn't much else worthy to note, as BJR was burdened by bad pitching and fielding, losing 9-3. 

June 8: On Monday, BJR was again inundated with error after error, four in total. The errors led to six unearned runs for the opposing team. Just like on Saturday, Aneudi Severino was the standout player of the game for BJR, and it might have been one of the better days for any player on either Blue Jays team down on the island this year. Severino smacked his second home run of the early season, as well as walked once and stole two bases. The team has shown a propensity to not strike out, only two times on Saturday and just four times on Monday. The pitching just hasn't been able to overcome the errors, with BJR losing again, this time 6-3. 

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