Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Runs Are Crossing Home Plate Left And Right In The Buffalo Series, Gage Stanifer Was Electric For New Hampshire, Vancouver Dealt With Rain, And New Arrivals Played Pivotal Roles for Dunedin

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (June 25 - June 26)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Iowa Cubs (Chicago White Sox): 2-2
Season Record: 37-42

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees): 2-1
Season Record: 36-34

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks): 1-2
Season Record: 30-43

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees): 1-3
Season Record: 33-39

FCL Blue Jays
Week Record: 3-0
Season Record: 29-11

DSL Blue Jays Blue
Week Record: 1-2
Season Record: 7-12

DSL Blue Jays Red
Week Record: 2-1
Season Record: 7-12

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

Season Record: 37-42
Series vs Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs)

June 25: Thursday's game against the Iowa Cubs had almost as many fireworks from Buffalo hitters as the first two games of the series did. The Bisons launched three more home runs, bringing the total for the series up to 11. Sean Keys continued his recent power surge with another home run, this one a solo shot in the third inning. Jay Harry then joined him with multiple home runs in the series, hitting a three-run blast in the fifth. Charles McAdoo capped off a monster eight-run fifth inning with a two-run missile line drive that cleared the fence as well. For the game, every Buffalo hitter had a hit, four had multiple hits, with Je'Von Ward notching three base knocks and four RBI. While the bats have shown up in each game of the series so far, the pitching had been abysmal, that is, until Thursday. Chas Dallas was lights out on the mound; he only went 4.1 innings, but didn't give up a run and struck out three. The bullpen came on in relief of Dallas and did just as well. Brendon Little, Pat Gallagher, and Justin Topa combined to throw 4.2 innings, only surrendering three hits and one unearned run. Buffalo won going away, 15-1. 

June 26: The bats finally lost their sizzling hot streak on Friday for Buffalo. They were still swinging and connecting, but the runs just never could cross home plate. Jonatan Clase, Yohendrick Pinango, and C.J. Stubbs all had two hits each, while Josh Kasevich was the only hitter able to bring a run home with his RBI single in the top of the first inning. The Bisons more or less became a microcosm of the big league club; they had nine singles in the game, no extra-base hits, and just one walk. With the bullpen being taxed over the first three games of the series, Josh Fleming was left out there to work as deep as he could. He did pitch into the sixth, but gave up 12 hits and eight runs in that span. Buffalo took it on the chin this game, a complete opposite performance from Thursday, they lost big 12-1.

Double-A New Hampshire

Season Record: 35-34
Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees)

June 25: It was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel on Thursday between New Hampshire and Somerset. Gage Stanifer was on the mound, and he was electric again. This time, he wasn't throwing mostly fastballs, but his fastball command was still very good. His slider was doing a lot of the heavy lifting, getting the strikeouts. He went six innings and got the quality start, giving up just three hits, issuing one walk, allowing one run, and striking out nine batters. His lone mistake was a slider over the plate that went for a solo home run in the third inning. The offense gave him a two-run lead in the second inning, though, with Jackson Hornung doubling in two runs. That would be all the offense in the game, as Mason Olson and Javen Coleman finished the game off with six strikeouts between them. New Hampshire won this one 2-1. 

June 26: Postponed

High-A Vancouver 

Season Record: 30-43
Series vs Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks)

June 25: Dylan Watts battled with some poor command, as he walked five batters in five innings, but only allowed two runs, with two runs scored in the first inning. The Canadians were also able to score a run in the first inning after loading the bases with Jake Casey getting hit by a pitch. They were then able to tie it up in the second on a Tucker Toman RBI-groundout. Watts was able to keep it scoreless for the next four innings despite not striking out a single batter, and in the fifth inning, the Canadians capitalized on a walk, then a fielding error with an Alex Stone two-run double in just his third game back from a rehab assignment. Manuel Beltre added another run with a sac fly, and then Carson Myers came into the game in the sixth and earned the save with two scoreless innings, lowering his ERA under four now. Stone had his third RBI of the day in the seventh for an insurance run, and J.R. Freethy added one of his own with an RBI single, before the game was called after the 7th due to poor weather for a 7-2 Canadians win. 

June 26: Holden Wilkerson had his longest outing of the season, but he may have been left in the game too long. The Canadians got out to another early lead in the first with an Eric Snow sac fly. Wilkerson kept the lead until the fourth inning, where a Slade Caldwell homer tied it up, and Wilkerson allowed another two runs to score in the fourth. He had a relatively clean fifth inning, but he allowed a single and a walk in the sixth inning before getting two outs and being taken out of the game for Jay Schueler. Scheduler immediately gave up a two-run double to Jakey Josepha, adding two more earned runs to Wilkerson’s line. Schueler allowed another run in the seventh before the Canadians had a mini comeback, with Peyton Williams getting robbed of multiple RBIs with a ground rule double, but a wild pitch and an Eric Snow RBI groundout brought the lead to just two for the Hops. Unfortunately for the Canadians, Schueler allowed another run, and the offense couldn’t score in the ninth for a seven-to-four loss.

Single-A Dunedin

Season Record: 33-39
Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees)

June 25: The Jays were able to turn around an early deficit with some great performances from their offense. Silvano Hechavarria was let down by his defense as a fielding error from Brock Tibbitts resulted in a three-run homer in the first inning. Dariel Ramon got a run back with an RBI double, but then Hechavarria gave up his second homer of the night in the third before giving up another extra base hit that scored another run, bringing it to a 5 to 1 lead for the Tarpons. In the fourth inning, the Jays started their comeback, with JoJo Parker and Adam Hackenberg getting on base for an RBI double for Aldo Gaxiola. Then Tibbitts helped make up for his error with a sac fly to bring it within two. The Jays loaded the bases in the fifth inning, and a passed ball and a bases-loaded walk from Hackeberg tied up the game. In Giaconino Lasaracina’s second game in Dunedin, he had a three-hit night, and he helped the Jays take the lead in the sixth with an RBI single. The Jays scored four more runs in the seventh with RBI hits from Yorman Licourt, Lasaracina, and Ramon. Ramon then had his fourth RBI of the night in the eighth, before Blaine Bullard capped off the scoring for the Jays with an RBI single himself. The Jays won this one 12 to 6. 

June 26: The offense sputtered after a 12-run night the day before. The Tarpons couldn’t get it going early, however, as the Italian Giacomo Taschin allowed just one run in five innings of work with five strikeouts. He wasn’t as good as Henry Lalane, though, as the righty carved up the Dunedin offense with 12 strikeouts in seven hit innings, allowing just one hit. The game stayed at 1 to nothing until the top of the eighth inning, where Luis Fonseca allowed a couple of runners, then Franly Urena gave up a bases-loaded walk and a bases-clearing double to make it five to one for the Tarpons. A throwing error from Josbel Garcia gave the Tarpons an insurance run in the ninth, and despite a two-run double from Adam Hackenberg in the ninth, the game really was not that competitive in a tough loss for Dunedin. 

FCL Blue Jays

Season Record: 29-11

June 25: It was a slow day Thursday between the FCL Blue Jays and FCL Tigers. Miguel Pantoja was on the mound for the Blue Jays and did well in his short outing. He pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit baseball. He did hit one batter and struck out two. Things were quiet until the sixth inning. Franklin Rojas singled, Edgardo Villegas was hit by a pitch, then Andres Arias hit an RBI single, followed by David Guzman hitting an RBI single. That was all the scoring in the game from both sides, as the Blue Jays won 2-0. 

June 26: The Friday game between the FCL Blue Jays and FCL Tigers was a little more eventful than the Thursday one. The top pitching performance was Deiker Pineda, who pitched 2.2 hitless innings and struck out three for the Blue Jays. The Tigers got on the board first with a sacrifice fly and a two-run double in the inning. In the second inning, the Blue Jays answered with two runs of their own on a two-run triple by Kennew Blanco. Martin Tamara had an RBI single in the third inning to increase the Tigers' lead. That is where things remained until the bottom of the seventh. Reynel Campos singled, Angel Guzman doubled, David Guzman drove in a run with a single, as did Franklin Rojas, followed by Edgardo Villegas hitting a single to the catcher, and Pascual Archila capping things off with a walk-off single to right field. The Blue Jays won 5-4. 

DSL Blue Jays Blue

Season Record: 7-12

June 25: BJB was on a roll Thursday down on the island; they managed to get a whopping 20 baserunners in the game, nine hits, 10 walks, and one hit-by-pitch. Despite clogging up the base paths all game with runner after runner, BJB only managed to get three of them across home plate. Sebastian Casanova walked with the bases loaded in the second inning, Juarlin Soto scored on an error in the fifth, and Juan Caricote hit his second home run of the season in the ninth (a solo shot). Even on the mound, the BJB pitchers were dialed in, striking out 13 of the Rangers Blue batters. Orlando Mercelin had the best performance for BJB. He struck out six and gave up just two unearned runs over his 2.2 innings. Unfortunately for BJB, their starting pitcher Tomoya Kinjo gave up three runs in his 1.2 innings. BJB took the loss in this game, 5-3. 

June 26: Friday's game was a stark contrast to Thursday's. BJB only managed to get six baserunners in the game, but managed to take home the win in spite of that. They had four hits in the game, three of which were doubles. Yariel Cordero had an RBI double in the third inning, which was followed by an RBI single by Cristopher Polanco. BJB added a third run in the game on a wild pitch in the fourth, which saw Michael Mesa come in to score. On the mound, Yoenis Morales was great, throwing five innings and allowing just one run, while striking out four. BJB won 3-1. 

DSL Blue Jays Red

Season Record: 7-12

June 25: Suspended

June 26 Game 1: In the first game of the day for BJR, they exploded for eight runs in the second inning. BJR scored three runs on two fielding errors, another run on a wild pitch, Gabriel Porras doubled home two runs, Aneudi Severino singled in one, and Ayberson Ortega capped off the scoring with an RBI double to right. Luis Nunez added two more runs in the sixth inning, when he doubled to right field. The big hitter of the game was Ortega, who had four hits, including his RBI double. Cristhian Duarte and Jarlin Ugarte combined to throw five innings and gave up just three runs, leading BJR to a big 11-3 win. 

June 26 Game 2: It was more of the same from BJR in the second game of the day against the Tigers 1 team. BJR scored 13 runs on just six hits, getting most of their baserunners from 10 walks in the game. There was no player better for BJR than Elian Reyes, a 6-foot-4 right fielder playing his second season in the DSL. Reyes had a big hit in the six-run first inning for BJR, a timely grand slam to right field. He then added another home run in the third inning, a solo blast to center. It wasn't the only skill on display from Reyes; he also stole a base in the fifth inning. BJR ran away with this game as well, winning 13-3. 

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