Blue Jays Minor League Recap: King, Guerra, and Hill Were Must See Pitching

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (August 15-17)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox): 4-2
Season Record: 60-60

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees): 1-5
Season Record: 52-60

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels): 5-1
Season Record: 54-60

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees): 2-4
Season Record: 52-58

FCL Blue Jays: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 1-4
Season Record: 19-35

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 5-0
Season Record: 33-18

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 60-60
• Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)

August 15: Buffalo had what amounted to a bullpen day on Saturday against Worcester. Richard Gallardo, Austin Marozas, and Beau Phillip all threw 1.2 innings, while Sam Gardner had the high mark in innings for Buffalo at 2.2. Gallardo struggled, to say the least, coughing up six hits and two walks, all leading to four runs in his short outing. Gardner was near perfection, he recorded eight outs on the day, five from strikeouts, and didn't allow a hit or walk. While the pitching was up and down, the hitting had similar stretches, scoring three in the second inning before going silent until late in the game. In the second, it was two missiles for home runs that provided the scoring, a solo blast from Peyton Williams to right and a two-run shot from C.J. Stubbs also to right field. Buffalo would be relatively quiet until the seventh, when Sean Keys roped a ball to right field, joining the duo with home runs on the day, his was of the two-run variety and gave Buffalo a 5-4 lead. It was looking good for the Bisons, until Chad Dallas surrendered the tying run in the eighth inning, sending the game into extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Buffalo started off with a single by Yohendrick Piñango and Nick Goodwin was hit by a pitch. Ismael Munguia then doubled to center, scoring Keys and Piñango, but Goodwin was thrown out at home. Williams and Stubbs would strike out and end the inning, stranding Munguia on the bases. It was more than enough of a lead for Buffalo, as Devereaux Harrison struck out two in a clean frame to give the Bisons the 7-5 win. 

August 16: Spencer Arrighetti made a second rehab start for Buffalo on Sunday, and it had some ups and downs with it. Arrighetti looked great in the bottom of the first inning, striking out two, as he worked a perfect frame. The second inning was also perfect, two flyouts and a lineout, keeping Arrighetti facing the minimum through two. Two pop ups, and a groundout in the third saw Arrighetti remain perfect through nine batters. It was the bottom of the fourth that tripped up Arrighetti; a single and two-run home run by Mikey Romeo would get Worcester on the scoreboard. Arrighetti would not make it out of the frame, giving up a single and a walk, before turning it over to the bullpen. When he left the game, Buffalo's bats had already put the Bisons on cruise control, scoring nine runs in the first four innings. Carlos Mendoza had a massive game at the plate for Buffalo, collecting four hits, including a two-run home run in the second, a two-RBI double in the third, and adding two more doubles for a total of three on the day. Davis Schneider capped off the scoring for Buffalo, with a three-run blast in the fourth, his sixth for the Bisons. Buffalo cruised to a 9-6 win. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 52-60
• Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees)

August 15: For the Saturday matchup between New Hampshire and Somerset, we got to see the Double-A debut of Johnny King. There was both the really good and some bad, as his command was a bit of a wild card on the day. In the first inning, a walk and a double scored a run for Somerset and were followed by another walk. In the second inning, King got his second and third strikeouts, but then allowed a single and a walk before finishing the inning. In the third inning, King walked the first two batters and then got three outs on a groundout, sacrifice fly, and pop up. The next inning, Carter Cunningham drove in a run to cut the lead in half for New Hampshire. In the bottom of the fourth, King had a clean inning with two more strikeouts and a groundout. For the day, King went four innings, allowed just two hits, but walked five, and struck out five. In the sixth, a home run and an RBI single gave Somerset the four-run lead. Daniel Guerra came in to pitch the seventh inning and was masterful. Hitting 99 mph on his way to striking out three batters and allowing a walk. New Hampshire lost this one 5-1. 

August 16: Things went better on Sunday for New Hampshire against Somerset. The Fisher Cats started with the lead in this one in the second inning. A run scored on a throwing error, and a second run came in via an Alexis Hernandez RBI groundout. In the fourth and sixth innings, Victor Arias added an RBI double and Hedbert Perez did the same. Tucker Toman would score later on a fielding error. Jackson Wentworth went five innings for New Hampshire and only allowed three hits and one run. He only struck out one as well. New Hampshire finished this one strong, as they ended up winning 7-1. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 54-60
• Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels)

August 15: The Jays love dipping their toes in Indy Ball, and Max Viera is another success story. The infielder spent the majority of the season with the FCL Blue Jays, but was promoted to the Canadians after the draft, and once again performed on offense, hitting a double in the second inning to put a runner on second and third, then scoring the first run after Jaxson West drove him in on a sac fly. Dasan Hill made his debut at Nat Bailey, and he looked great, not allowing a single walk and striking out three over four innings, only allowing a single unearned run after a JoJo Parker throwing error. The Canadians added to the lead when Maddox Latta hit a homer, and Viera helped add some insurance runs after hitting a triple and scoring in the sixth. Holden Wilkerson took the win after five strong innings in relief, allowing two runs as the Canadians won 5 to 3.

August 16: Troy Guthrie was once again the starter for Vancouver, and he went five innings once again for the fifth time in six starts since getting promoted. The Canadians took the lead in the second after loading the bases, but could only score one run on a Jean Joseph sac fly. The Dust Devils were able to tie it in the fifth inning off of Guthrie, who left in line for a no-decision. Franly Urena gave up a homer to Ryan Nicholson which also gave up the lead, but once again Max Viera hit a triple to start the rally for the Canadians, as Dariel Ramon drove him in on a sac fly to tie it up, then in the eighth inning, Viera drove in two more runs with his third triple in two games, which ended up being the winning runs. The 25-year-old infielder now has a 1.412 OPS in Vancouver. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 52-58
• Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees)

August 15: The Tarpons blasted 4 homers against the D-Jays, as it was a non-competitive blowout. Denis Samudio had his worst start with the Jays organisation, walking three batters and allowing four runs in under three innings of work. The bullpen was not better, as each pitcher gave up a homer and the bullpen gave up 10 runs and 11 hits after Samudio was taken out. The Jays were able to score seven runs, including Jake Cook’s third homer of the season, but it was still an insurmountable lead, as they lost 14-7. 

August 16: What started out well with Brandon Barriera once again having a good start, going three scoreless innings and striking out five batters, quickly turned into a disaster. Jake Bennett and Dean West both had RBI hits in the second inning, but once Brayden Heidel replaced Barriera, things took a turn for the worse. Heidel was unable to get a single out, giving up eight runs with three walks and six hits, ballooning his ERA to 8.23. Josbel Garcia gave up no earned runs replacing him, but fielding errors led to three earned runs scoring. The Jays were able to claw some runs back with a couple of homers from Aldo Gaxiola and Owen Carapellotti, as well as a Jake Cook RBI single, but the seventh inning was another big inning for the Tarpons, as Isaac Williams and Dax Dathe gave up six runs, making it impossible to come back without a miracle, which eventually led to an 18 to 8 defeat for Dunedin. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 38-20

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 19-35

August 15: BJB scored five runs on the backs of a clogged base path for much of the game on Saturday. They had nine hits and seven walks in the seven-inning game. Eiker Lothar had three of the hits, two singles and a double, while Randy Soto provided some fireworks with his first home run of the season. Cristopher Polanco added two runs to the scoreboard in the fourth, with a two-RBI single on a ground ball to center. Michael Mesa walked with the bases loaded in the sixth and brought home Lothar. Then Soto's solo blast in the seventh capped off BJB's scoring. The five runs were just not enough against a Yankees Bombers squad that scored six in the top of the first inning and eased their way to a 7-5 win. 

August 17: Juan Caricote led the way for BJB against the White Sox DSL team on Monday. Caricote had an RBI double in the first, a solo home run in the third, and an RBI single in the fourth. He ended the day just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and added three RBI and two runs scored. Michael Mesa had an RBI double in the first inning, matching Caricote. With a 5-0 lead after the fourth inning, BJB pitching kept giving up runs until the game was tied and went into extra innings. BJB got two runs in the top of the eighth, on Cristopher Polanco's two-RBI single, providing BJB enough of a lead to get a win 7-6. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18

August 15: BJR had the bats dialed in on Saturday against the White Sox DSL team, collecting nine hits and walking 11 times on their way to scoring 11 runs. Alex Linares had the only extra-base hit, a double in the second inning. Jose Gori had an RBI single in the first and a two-RBI single in the fifth. Frelian Flores also had a two-RBI single in the fifth. With the game tied up at eight, the game headed into extra innings, where BJR took a lead they wouldn't surrender. Flores scored on a wild pitch, Samuel Orellana was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Aneudi Severino knocked in one on a single to center. While the bats were hot, the pitching was hit or miss. Carlos Olivo and Juan Ramirez each struck out five in 2.1 innings of work, but BJB coughed up eight runs (five earned) on the day. BJR was able to hold on for the win, 11-8 in ten innings. 

August 17: As good of an offensive game BJR had on Saturday, Monday was the exact opposite, just three hits and no walks on the day. Darwin Nuñez hit a solo home run in the second inning to left field; the blast was his third of the season. In the fifth, Ayberson Ortega hit a ball to center for a sacrifice fly, giving BJR a 2-1 lead. The pitching for BJR was great. Franiel Severino, Adrian Moreta, and Jose Melo combined to give up just one run on seven hits, while walking just five. BJR won 2-1. 

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