Blue Jays Minor League Recap: DSL Kicks Off, King Dominates, Perry Keeps Going, and Keys Goes Deep

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (May 30-June 1)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 2-4
Season Record: 27-30

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees): 3-3
Season Record: 26-22

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 3-3
Season Record: 21-30

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 1-5
Season Record: 20-31

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 3-2
Season Record: 17-5

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

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

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 27-30
• Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

May 30: It was Grant Rogers’ turn on the mound again for the Saturday afternoon game against Lehigh Valley, and he might have had his best game of the season. Rogers was again his usual self, pitching entirely to contact. He worked into the sixth in the game, going 5.2 innings, only giving up five hits and walking none. He got a ton of soft contact from hitters in the form of groundouts and pop-ups. He did strike out two, but it was the weak balls-in-play that got him into the sixth without giving up a run. With Rogers doing his part on the mound, the bats were able to go to work and build a nice lead for Buffalo in the game. RJ Schreck got the scoring started for the Bisons in the third inning with an RBI single that scored Ryan McCarty. He would have a big game, as he added two more RBI in the fifth with another single. William Simoneit extended the lead in the sixth with a home run, his fourth of the season. The blast was a moonshot, coming off the bat at a 40° launch angle. With a four-run lead, Matt Bowman came into the game in the eighth for Buffalo, and it all evaporated. He would give up two runs before giving way to Chase Lee, who allowed two inherited runners to score and a third run, all via a three-run home run. In the bottom half of the inning, the long ball saved Buffalo, with both Josh Rivera and Je'Von Ward launching solo home runs. They took back the lead by one, and Lee would finish up the ninth without allowing anyone else to cross home, giving Buffalo the 6-5 win. 

May 31: On Sunday, Max Scherzer made a rehab start with Buffalo, bringing a lot of anticipation and hope with him. The big league club desperately needs pitching, and he can provide it once he is done with his rehab assignment. This start went smoothly for him; he threw three innings, didn't allow a hit, only walked two, and struck out four. His fastball ranged between 92 and 94 mph; he is working to regain the velocity from being on the shelf for so long. He would depart the game with the lead, after RJ Schreck, Willie MacIver, and Josh Kasevich all had RBI base knocks in the bottom of the third inning. In the fifth, Devereaux Harrison would give up three runs to tie the game up, but MacIver and Kasevich combined to score two in the bottom half of the inning. The runs came on MacIver's RBI single and Kasevich's sacrifice fly. Nate Garkow had trouble in the sixth and gave one run back. In the seventh, the bullpen imploded further, Conor Larkin came in with two men on and drilled the first batter he faced to load the bases up. The next batter he faced would put the game out of reach, as Liover Peguero hit a grand slam. Lehigh took Sunday's game 8-5, with Buffalo now falling to three games under .500. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 26-22
• Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees)

May 30: Saturday wasn't a good day for hitting between New Hampshire and Somerset. The Fisher Cats were stifled by Patriots pitcher Kyle Carr, who would go six innings and struck out 10. New Hampshire managed just one earned run off of him, a catcher's interference and an error led to a two-run double from Jace Bohrofen in the first. Then, an Aaron Parker home run in the fourth gave New Hampshire a three-run lead. It didn't last, though, as three RBI singles from Somerset tied the game in the bottom of the inning. A wild pitch in the seventh inning ended up allowing the winning run to score for Somerset. New Hampshire lost this one 4-3. 

May 31: Jay Harry got the scoring started in the third inning of the Sunday finale between New Hampshire and Somerset. He hit an RBI single to the shortstop in the third inning. Sean Keys would put the Fisher Cats up two with a home run to left field in the fourth. In the fifth, Somerset got a home run from Jace Avina to cut the lead in half, and then an RBI single in the seventh tied the game. Jace Bohrofen hit a double down the right field line in the eighth for New Hampshire to take the lead. They would hold on and win this low-scoring game, 3-2.

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 21-30
• Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

May 30: It was the return of the King as Johnny King bounced back from his worst start of the season with one of his best. He tied his season high strikeout total, while only walking two batters and allowing three hits without allowing a single run. The offense also got it going for King, as Jacob Sharp hit his fifth homer of the season in the first to give the Canadians a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Manuel Beltre added onto the lead with an RBI single in the fourth inning, and Dub Gleed broke it open in the sixth inning with a three-run homer to make it 5-0 for Vancouver. Holden Wilkerson replaced King in the sixth as he usually does, and had a scare in the seventh, almost giving the lead back with a four-run inning from the Emeralds. He was able to close it out in the eighth and ninth to give himself his first save and the Canadians the series lead. 

May 31: The Canadians had a chance to win the series with Nolan Perry taking the mound, but he was human for the first time in a few weeks. He gave off a leadoff single, then a homer immediately after to make it 2-0 for Eugene. He pitched well heading into the fourth inning, where a bunt single and a throwing error allowed another run to score, becoming the most runs Perry has given up this season in a single game. Jack Eshleman made his first appearance for Vancouver, replacing Perry in the fifth inning and getting the first three batters he saw out. He gave up a solo shot in the sixth inning, but then successfully completed his second frame. The Canadians finally answered with an RBI groundout from Dub Gleed, allowing J.R. Freethy to score, but that was it for the Canadians, as they lost the last game of the season for a series tie. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 20-31
• Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

May 30: The Dunedin Blue Jays almost came back from a 4-0 deficit off the back of a three-hit night from Blaine Bullard. Jake Bloss had a shaky start on rehab assignment, giving up a two-run single in the first, and homers in the second and third innings. Bullard hit a double in the fourth and was driven in by Sam Shaw to give the D-Jays one run, and in the fifth inning delivered with a two-run single to make it three to four, and then promptly stole his 19th bag of the season. Shaw had a double of his own in the sixth inning, and Aldo Gaxiola drove him home to even it up in the seventh inning. Gaxiola moved up to second on a passed ball, then David Beckles drove him in to take the lead. Jack Nedrow, unfortunately, couldn’t keep the lead as with two outs in the sixth inning, he allowed a single, then a double to Will Vierling to make it an even game. Nedrow allowed another single to give up the lead, and it gave him his first loss of the season. 

May 31: Shane Bieber returned on rehab assignment in Dunedin, and he was able to take the mound and showed solid stuff despite poor results. He gave up five runs in 2.1 innings, but his velo was similar to pre-injury, and he pounded the zone. The Jays were only able to get one run on a Jake Cook RBI, and despite scoreless outings from Blake Purnell and Diego Dominguez, the offense couldn’t score anything else. Angel Obando made his Single-A debut and gave up a solo homer, which made it a 6-1 game. This was another loss to the Threshers, who won five out of the six games of this series. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 16-4

May 30: It was a very pitcher-oriented game between the FCL Blue Jays and FCL Tigers on Saturday. The Tigers took the early lead in the bottom of the first, when Jack Penney hit a two-run homer off of Miguel Pantoja. Pascual Archila hit a home run of his own in the third inning to cut the lead in half for the Blue Jays. David Guzman tied the game an inning later with an RBI single, and Andres Arias launched his third home run of the year to take the lead in the sixth. The Blue Jays got to the final out of the game, but Nolan McCarthy crushed a three-run walk-off home run for the Tigers team, as the Blue Jays squad lost this one 5-3. 

June 1: Seojun Moon got the start in this one for the FCL Blue Jays against the FCL Tigers again. Moon would hold the Tigers hitless until the fourth inning and ended up finishing the frame to give him four innings pitched, only allowing the one hit, one walk, no runs, and striking out five hitters. The FCL Blue Jays took the lead in the first inning, when Sam White singled, CJ Stubbs doubled, Cade Doughty singled, and then Hedbert Perez singled. The two runs that scored would be the entire offense for both teams in the game. The FCL Jays ended with eight hits, and the Tigers squad had just three. The FCL Blue Jays won 2-0. 

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 0-1

June 1: Blue Jays Blue opened their season down on the island Monday. Roberto Castellanos pitched four innings, struck out four, and gave up four runs on seven hits. Castellanos is a 19-year-old pitcher who signed with the Blue Jays this past offseason during the J15 International Signing Period. Samuel Orellana had two singles, and Ruben Sanchez drew four walks. Isay Veras doubled home a run and Daniel Dominguez scored two on a single in the ninth for BJB. It wasn't enough for them to make a comeback, though, as they fell in game one of their season, 7-5. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 0-1

June 1: Ayberson Ortega hit a single in the second inning to left field for the first hit of the DSL Blue Jays Red (BJR) team's season, in the opening game on Monday. He was quickly erased from the bases on a double play, though. In the third inning, a Gabriel Porras single was followed by two walks to load the bases for the BJR team. A flyout would end their threat this time. In the fifth inning, a wild pitch and a single would bring in three runs for the DSL Tigers1 team. That would be all the scoring on the day, as the BJR team ended up losing 3-0. 

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