Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Hechavarria Is Back, Bullard Lifts Dunedin, FCL Season Begins

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (May 2-May 4)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees): 2-4
Season Record: 15-18

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets): 5-2
Season Record: 15-10

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks): 2-4
Season Record: 11-16

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins): 2-4
Season Record: 11-16

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 2-0
Season Record: 2-0

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 15-18
• Series Opponent: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees)

May 2: Saturday's game against the RailRiders was a true team win. All across the diamond, players did their part to take down one of the better Triple-A teams. The offense was paced by newly cemented lead-off hitter Ismael Munguia. He had two hits in the game, a double in the first and an RBI single in the third to get the scoring started for the Bisons. After a double by Rafael Lantigua to begin the sixth, Munguia laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him over to third base. Josh Kasevich cashed in the run with a single to left field, tying the game up at two. All eyes would turn to the bullpen when CJ Van Eyk exited in the sixth. Van Eyk pitched relatively well; he went five innings, gave up six hits and two earned runs, walked two, and struck out six. His only real blemish was giving up a home run to Yanquiel Fernandez in the bottom of the third. Once the bullpen came into the game, the arms were relentless, not surrendering a single run the rest of the game, and that included two extra frames. In the 11th, Munguia was the ghost runner that started at second base. He moved to third on a Kasevich single and then scored on an RJ Schreck sacrifice fly. The next batter, Willie MacIver, would knock in Kasevich with a single, giving the Bisons a 4-2 lead. That would eventually be the final score, as Tanner Andrews came into the game and recorded two groundouts and a strikeout to earn the save.

May 3: José Berríos was on the mound, completing another rehab start. The outing had a lot of ups and downs to it, as Berríos started the game off by surrendering a monster blast to the second batter he faced, Spencer Jones. It had an exit velocity of 117.4 mph and went 422 feet to right field. From there, Berríos would work through the next 10 batters with relative ease, only giving up a single and three walks. In the bottom of the fourth, it all unraveled quickly for Berríos. He gave up a two-run home run to Seth Brown and then loaded the bases up for Jones. Berríos left a sinker over the middle of the plate, and Jones hammered it for his second home run of the game, this one a grand slam. In the fifth, Josh Fleming came into the game and pitched flawlessly, only giving up one walk, zero hits and striking out four. The lead was too much for Buffalo to come back from though, as they only recorded six hits on the day. Their lone run came on a Je'Von Ward RBI single in the top of the second, scoring Charles McAdoo. Buffalo fell 7-1 in a game that was decided by Berríos and his inability to keep the ball in the park. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 15-10
• Series vs Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets)

May 2: Suspended

May 3, Game 1: New Hampshire and Binghamton started the day completing Saturday's game that had been suspended. New Hampshire had taken the lead in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run home run to left field by Nick Goodwin. In the fourth, a sacrifice fly by the Rumble Ponies brought the game within one. Eddie Micheletti Jr. changed that in the sixth though, with his fourth home run of the season. In the ninth inning, Binghamton made it close by scoring two runs on an RBI single and an RBI double. Conor Larkin finished the game by getting the last out on a line drive to right field. It was good for the save and the 4-3 win for the Fisher Cats. 

May 3, Game 2: In the Sunday finale and the second game of the doubleheader, New Hampshire never really got going. Adrian Pinto continued a good start to his season with New Hampshire by getting on base four times on two singles and two walks. Sean Keys had a single, and Cutter Coffey added a single as well, but neither of them brought in any runs. Jackson Wentworth pitched well, but surrendered two runs in the first inning. Binghamton would add a sacrifice fly in the seventh and go on to win. New Hampshire only managed four hits and four walks in this one and lost a pitching-dominant game, 3-0.

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 11-16
• Series vs Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks)

May 2: It was a big comeback for the Canadians, as Vancouver went down early. With the bases loaded, Kendry Chirinos made a throwing error to home, allowing the first run to score. Slade Caldwell knocked in the second run for the hops on an RBI single off the wall, but got hung up in between first and second. Dub Gleed made a great tag to get Caldwell out, then threw out the runner at home for a crucial double play to stop the bleeding. Landen Maroudis pitched well heading into the fifth inning, but allowed a single and a walk before getting replaced by Gilberto Batista, who gave up a three-run homer. He then gave up a walk to Caldwell, and two wild pitches allowed him to score as well, giving the Hops a six-run lead. Gleed once again made a big play, this time with his first homer in the Jays organization, to get two runs. Arjun Nimmala added another run on an RBI double, bringing the Canadians within three runs. Batista gave up his second homer in the seventh inning, but the Canadians once again fired back in the bottom of the same inning, with Jacob Sharp hitting his first homer of the year to bring it within two. Vancouver was still down going into the ninth inning, but patient approaches prevailed, as four of the first batters walked, and Manuel Beltre hit a walk-off single to win the game after being down by six. 

May 3: The Canadians once again went down early after an error from Manuel Beltre allowed two runs to score in the first. Peyton Williams got a run back with an RBI single, and in the fifth inning, Dub Gleed tied it with an RBI single of his own. Vancouver’s bullpen woes continued with Juanmi Vasquez and Eminen Flores walking seven batters and allowing three runs to score. Matt Scannell was able to score on a balk in the seventh, but the Canadians couldn’t complete the comeback. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 11-16
• Series vs Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins)

May 2: The D-Jays took it to extra innings, with Troy Guthrie having another decent start, allowing only two runs in over four innings. The Jays got to an early lead off an Aldo Gaxiola RBI single and an error to put them up three. Guthrie did give up a two-run homer, but the Jays were still up one. In the seventh and eighth, things changed, as the bullpen would give up two more homers. Austin Smith hit a clutch homer to tie the game in the ninth, and in the 10th inning, Blaine Bullard hit a walk-off single for the first time in his career. 

May 3: Silvano Hechavarria finally made his return, working his way back in a rehab start in Dunedin, where he pitched four perfect innings before handing it off to the 'pen. Addison Barger also made his return to game action, hitting a two-run homer in the fourth, which helped Dunedin get out a bit earlier. The Jays bullpen could not hold on to the lead though, as shaky command led to 10 walks and eight runs scored against just the bullpen in five innings of work. Dunedin scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting, but the Jays lost once again, along with the series. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 2-0

May 2: The FCL Blue Jays kicked off their season on Saturday against the Phillies' Rookie ball team. The Phillies squad took the early lead on a wild pitch, but 2025 draftee Tim Piasentin brought home the tying run in the bottom of the first on a groundout. David Guzman put the Blue Jays team up two with an RBI double in the third, which was followed by a Piasentin RBI double. Franklin Rojas had an RBI groundout to put the Blue Jays up four. Angel Guzman singled home a run in the sixth, and again Piasentin drove in another run with a groundout. Andres Arias would cap off the scoring with an RBI single, giving the Blue Jays eight runs. The Phillies would make it close, scoring on a few singles and groundouts of their own in two three-run innings, but fell short, as the Blue Jays won this opener 8-7

May 4: The Rookie ball team was in action again on Monday afternoon and looked good for a second straight game to open the season. Giacomo Taschin was on the mound for the Jays, and he was lights out in his first professional start. He went four innings, struck out three, walked one, and only gave up two hits. He kept the opposing team off the scoreboard entirely after a rough first inning, in which he coughed up a single, a walk, and a double, but no one scored. He had three 1-2-3 innings after the trouble and handed it off to the bullpen with a 5-0 lead. The scoring for the Jays came off of an Angel Guzman RBI single in the second, before Owen Gray added a run on a balk. Gray drew a bases-loaded walk in the third, which was followed by Pascual Archila driving in a run on a fielder’s choice. Their fifth and final run came on a Guzman sacrifice fly. Tim Piasentin was hitless on the day, with two strikeouts. The Jays won 5-1 over the Phillies' Rookie ball team. 

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