Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Standout Starts from Perry and Stanifer, While Dunedin Gets Blown Out

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (May 26-May 27)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 1-1
Season Record: 26-27

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees): 1-1
Season Record: 24-20

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 1-1
Season Record: 19-28

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 0-2
Season Record: 19-28

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 3-2
Season Record: 14-3

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 26-27
• Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

May 26: On Tuesday, Buffalo opened a series against Lehigh Valley. It was a bullpen game, but they were more than up to the task. Pat Gallagher got the nod to start, and he kicked things off with three nearly perfect innings. He ended his day after three innings, giving up just one hit, not walking anyone, and striking out three. In the fourth, Devereaux Harrison took over for Gallagher, and Lehigh Valley was able to manufacture a run against him right away. He gave up a walk, a stolen base, a groundout, and then a sacrifice fly. He would settle down from there, pitching well over the next two innings, and wouldn't allow another run. Despite having a bunch of runners on the basepaths all game (10 hits and nine walks), the bats couldn't get a ton of runs to cross home plate. They took the lead back in the sixth, with an RBI triple from Josh Kasevich and an RBI single from Willie MacIver. Kasevich continued his big game, knocking in another run in the bottom of the seventh inning and an RBI single. The back half of the bullpen would falter late, though, surrendering a run each eighth and ninth innings, as Jesse Hahn got the blown save. Hayden Juenger then came into the game to pitch the tenth inning and allowed only the ghost runner to score. In the bottom half of the innings, Josh Rivera came up clutch with a two-run walk-off single. The 5-4 win brought Buffalo's record back to .500. 

May 27: Wednesday's game would be a special one for Charles McAdoo, as he was informed following the game that his services were no longer needed in Buffalo; the team across the border in Canada is now in need of his bat. McAdoo is now headed to Baltimore, as he will be called up to the big league club before Thursday's game against the Orioles. In his final game with Buffalo, he had a single and a stolen base, his seventh of the season. William Simoneit and Riley Tirotta each had home runs; they came in back-to-back innings, the second and third. Simoneit's blast was a two-run shot and had an exit velocity of 106 mph and went 411 feet. Tirotta's home run was a two-run blast as well and gave Buffalo a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning. CJ Van Eyk had himself a good game on the mound, going six innings and recording a quality start. He allowed three runs and struck out just three. With a 6-4 lead, Buffalo turned to Matt Bowman, who made his first appearance in the Blue Jays organization. It went about as badly as one could imagine. In the inning, he gave up a walk, an RBI double, and a two-run home run to Felix Reyes. After the half inning was over, Buffalo was down 7-6 and wouldn't make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, as they would lose and fall back to a game under 500.

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 24-20
• Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees)

May 26: New Hampshire got out in front quickly for the Tuesday game of the series against the Somerset Patriots. A double steal in the second inning resulted in Victor Arias stealing home for a run. Aaron Parker would later score in that inning, when Jorge Burgos launched a two-run home run. In the bottom half of the inning, DJ Gladney crushed a home run for Somerset to bring them within two. Gladney would again homer in the seventh inning, a two-run shot to put Somerset up by one. Arias drove in the tying run in the top of the eighth inning on a ground ball to center field. Jay Harry would clear the bases later in the inning for a two-run double. New Hampshire went to the bottom of the ninth up one run, but couldn't hold on. Coby Morales singled in the tying run, and then Manuel Palencia hit a walk-off single. The Fisher Cats lost a heartbreaker in this one, 8-7. 

May 27: In the 11:00 AM early game of the week, Gage Stanifer was on the mound against Somerset. Things started a bit on a roller coaster ride, as Stanifer got two quick groundouts to begin the first inning, but then walked three batters in a row. His fastball command was still shaky at times, and he continued working on his split/change-up. He got a third groundout to end the inning, though, avoiding any damage. In the top of the second inning, Cutter Coffey crushed his first Double-A home run, a two-run shot to left field to give New Hampshire the lead. In the bottom of the second inning, Stanifer again was not locked in with his command, giving up a double, a walk, and then a single for a run. He would settle down and get another groundout to end the inning. Jace Bohrofen drove in a run with a single during the third inning, after which Stanifer locked in on the mound. He would only allow a single the rest of the way, as he completed the third, fourth, and fifth innings very easily. His final line was five innings, three hits, one run, four walks, and three strikeouts. He got up to 85 pitches on the day and used his slider and split/change-up well throughout the game. In the fourth inning, Eddie Micheletti Jr. extended the Fisher Cats' lead to five with a home run, and Jackson Hornung would up it to six with a home run as well in the sixth inning. New Hampshire would go on to win this one 7-3. Note: Arjun Nimmala left the game in the fourth inning with a hamstring issue. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 19-28
• Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

May 26: The Canadians once again faced the top team in the Northwest League, the Eugene Emeralds. Breakout pitching prospect Nolan Perry once again dominated, with his now fourth straight start of eight strikeouts or more since getting promoted to High A. The righty went six innings, not allowing a run, with just four hits and one walk. The Canadians’ offense was able to load the bases in the bottom of the third inning, and Jacob Sharp got a run in on a force out. Carter Cunningham walked the next inning, then got to second on a wild pitch before stealing third base. He then scored on another wild pitch to add another run on some good baserunning. Cunningham then hit double digits with his homer count in the bottom of the sixth inning, 100 mph off the bat. Jonathan Todd replaced Perry in the seventh inning and earned a three-inning save for his fourth of the season, with three perfect innings to end the game. 

May 27: The Canadians tried to keep the momentum going against the Emeralds, and they scored two early runs in the first inning after Maddox Latta hit a double, was moved over to third on a sac bunt, then scored on a wild pitch from Yunior Marte. Tucker Toman then drove in a runner on a single for the second run of the inning. Landen Maroudis was the starter for this game, and he gave a run back in the second inning on a lead-off homer to Zander Darby, but the Canadians continued to hold the lead going into the fourth inning. Maroudis got a lineout and a groundout, despite giving up a single, and looked like he could get out of the fourth unscathed. However, he then gave up a hit to Walker Martin, and then a passed ball from Edward Duran allowed a runner to score. Maroudis then walked a batter and gave up a three-run homer to Jean Carlos Sio before getting out of the inning, and the Emeralds took a 5-2 lead. J.R. Freethy got on with a single, then stole second before getting driven in by Brennan Orf to reduce the lead to two. Maroudis was then replaced by Gilberto Batista, who’s been a dedicated piggyback partner for him. Batista hasn’t pitched well this season, and he immediately gave up a hit and two walks before giving up a grand slam in the first inning he came in. The Canadians tried to claw their way back, as Freethy hit a two run homer in the fifth, and Alexis Hernandez and one of his own in the sixth, but the lead proved to be insurmountable. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 19-28
• Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

May 26: The Dunedin Blue Jays once again face the Threshers, this time at BayCare Ballpark. Blake Purnell was the starter for the D-Jays, and he gave up a bunch of hits. In the second inning, he gave up four hits, leading to a two-run deficit early on. However, the Jays bounced back with a big inning in the third, starting off with a Yorman Licourt two-run homer to tie it up, then a two-RBI triple from Juan Sanchez, and lastly an Eric Snow RBI single to make it a five-run inning. The Threshers brought it within one as Blake Purnell gave up a two-run shot to Nolan Beltran in the fourth inning, but was able to make it through five innings in line for the win. Luis Victorino came in the sixth inning and gave up two doubles to even up the game, but once again, some good hitting for the Jays returned the lead in their favour, this time with an Aldo Gaxiola three-run homer to make it eight to five. A JoJo Parker error in the seventh inning led to trouble, though, as the Threshers were able to get two runs in to make it a one-run game. Josbel Garcia then blew the save in the eighth inning as the Blue Jays lost a close one. 

May 27: This game got out of hand in a hurry, as Silvano Hechavarria and Sam Shaw both were on minor league rehab assignments. Hechavarria has really struggled since returning from injury, and this game was no different, as he gave up a run on a dropped third strike in the first inning. The Jays tied it up with an Adam Hackenberg sac fly the inning after, but Hechavarria gave up four runs in the second inning off of a force out with the bases loaded, into a three-run homer. JoJo Parker had his 12th double of the season in the third to score two runs, but Eduar Gonzalez continued the poor pitching for the Jays, as the Threshers scored another run in the bottom of the third. Then, in the fourth inning, the Threshers loaded the bases and cleared them with a double, before they hit another double to make it 10-3. The Threshers just kept piling it on, as after Gonzalez was taken out, they scored six runs on Bradley Wilson for 16 runs on the night. Adam Hackenberg hit his first homer as a Jay in the sixth inning, and the Jays got two more runs in the seventh inning on hits from Aldo Gaxiola and Hackenberg, but with such a gigantic deficit, there really was no coming back in this one. Juan Sanchez had a three-hit night as well.

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 15-3

May 26: The top five in the batting order for the FCL Blue Jays again did the heavy lifting on Tuesday against the Yankees' squad. They collected all eight of the Blue Jays' hits, with Franklin Rojas hitting a home run in the first inning, a three-run shot. Then, in the third inning, Brock Tibbitts hit his third home run of the season to give the Blue Jays' team a five-run lead. That would be all the Blue Jays needed, as Carson Messina was on the mound and he pitched well over 3.2 innings. Only giving up two hits and two walks, while striking out three. He didn't give up a run, lowering his ERA to 2.25. The FCL Blue Jays held on and won this one 7-6. 

Transactions

05/27/26     RHP Matt Bowman assigned to Buffalo Bisons.
05/27/26     Toronto Blue Jays optioned RHP Tanner Andrews to Buffalo Bisons.
05/27/26     Toronto Blue Jays selected the contract of RHP Austin Voth from Buffalo Bisons.
05/27/26     Vancouver Canadians sent OF Sam Shaw on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
05/27/26     RHP Jack Eshleman assigned to Vancouver Canadians from Dunedin Blue Jays.
05/27/26     Vancouver Canadians activated C Edward Duran from the 7-day injured list.
05/26/26     Buffalo Bisons sent C C.J. Stubbs on a rehab assignment to FCL Blue Jays.
05/26/26     RHP Richard Gallardo assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
05/26/26     RHP Nate Garkow assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

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