Once again, Jays Journal is doing a great job recapping the minor league games and for more detail, you should check them out. I’m probably going to give you a bit more info about Deck McGuire‘s start with New Hampshire, primarily because I watched most of it on MiLB TV. I also listened to Tyler Murray calling the Dunedin Blue Jays’ game and can tell you a bit more about Daniel Norris‘s outing.
The Buffalo Bisons held off a charging Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders club to maintain the victory 6-5 on Thursday. John Stilson ran into trouble in the ninth, allowing four runs on four hits (including a three-run blast by Zoilo Almonte) before Chad Jenkins came in to shut the door and earn his second professional save. Liam Hendriks had another good start, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts. Anthon Gose had the big blast, driving three runs with a triple in the second inning and he added a single and a walk. Chris Getz went 2/5, Dan Johnson went 2/3 and Jared Goedert went 2/4. Kevin Pillar kept his hit-streak going and ran it to eight games with a single in five at bats.
Player of the Game: Liam Hendriks and Anthony Gose
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats rapped out 11 hits as a team to support Deck McGuire on the mound in a 5-3 win over the New Britain Rock Cats. Fortunately, the offense was working because McGuire’s defense wasn’t helping him out at all as the Fisher Cats made a pair of errors (and a couple of fielding mistakes were ruled hits, not errors by the official scorekeeper), making all three of the runs that McGuire was charged with unearned. He was very effective yesterday impressing me even more than I was when I saw him pitch in New Hampshire last year. He was not losing focus with runners on and continued to make good pitches to the corners (or even out of the strike zone) when necessary and didn’t give in to the opposition. His curveball looked very sharp and his changeup remains the pitch that most impresses me. When he was hit, he wasn’t hit hard as most of the batters were hitting pitches that he wanted to make and he wasn’t shy about throwing heat above the belt. Overall it was a very impressive performance by McGuire that should serve to let people know that he’s no bust.
On the offense, Andy Burns had three hits (although at least one was an infield hit), Jon Berti had a pair as did Mike Crouse (one was an infield hit).
Player of the Game: Deck McGuire
The Dunedin Blue Jays dropped their Thursday-nighter to the Clearwater Threshers 7-5 despite getting a run back and threatening to complete a come-back win in the ninth. Daniel Norris started and was pitching in and out of trouble all night, running up his pitch count and only throwing four innings (4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K). Kramer Champlin earned the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) in his two innings and Chad Girodo and Ajay Meyer both allowed a run each in the final three innings. Defensively this game is definitely one to forget as six errors (including two each by Gustavo Pierre and Dwight Smith, Jr.) led to three of the runs being unearned. With good defense, this game could have been won. The bats were solid yet again as Dwight Smith, Dalton Pompey, Gustavo Pierre and Christian Lopes each had a pair of hits. For Pompey, it was a special night as he received his Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove Award with his parents looking on in the crowd. Lopes hit a pair of doubles and he also took a walk. Kevin Patterson hit his second home run of the season, going 1/2 with two walks.
Player of the Game: Christian Lopes
The Lansing Lugnuts ran their win streak to four games, sweeping the Lake County Captains with a 10-2 victory at home. Kendall Graveman had another outstanding start, allowing only one unearned run in six innings of work and giving up just three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Phil Kish made his season debut after getting activated off the DL and struck out three in his two innings (giving up a run). Griffin Murphy struck out all three batters he faced to finish the game. The offense racked up ten runs on 11 hits despite getting very little from the top two in the order. D.J. Davis and Dickie Thon each walked once but failed to get a hit and Davis had a tough night, striking out three times. Jason Leblebijian went 3/4 with a pair of RBI while Santiago Nessy ran his batting average to .300 with a 2/4 game that drove in two runs. Ian Parmley went 2/3 with a walk and stole two bases.
Player of the Game: Kendall Graveman and Jason Leblebijian
April 25 Preview
Buffalo Bisons (10-9)
The Bisons send Sean Nolin to the hill against an undeclared starter for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Nolin has been very good in his three starts so far, averaging fewer than four hits and exactly seven strikeouts per start. His three-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio is also excellent. Catch this one on MiLB TV at 7:05 pm.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (8-10)
The Fisher Cats are starting to get going after a slow start (perhaps it was the magic of Jack Murphy being added to the roster) and they’re home tonight to play the Reading Fightin’ Phils. Reading sends one of their top prospects, 21-year-old Severino Gonzalez, to the mound and he’s got a very solid 3.13 ERA in four starts with just four walks and 16 strikeouts in 23 innings. The Fisher Cats haven’t announced their starter yet but my money is on either John Anderson or someone getting called up from Dunedin. It is Matt Boyd‘s day to pitch . . . The game goes at 6:35 ET.
Dunedin Blue Jays (15-5)
The Jays go “on the road” to Clearwater (they actually stay at home and just bus to Brighthouse Field in Clearwater, about 10 minutes down the road from Florida Auto Exchange Stadium) and send their ace, Matt Boyd, to the mound to face the Threshers and TBD. What can I saw about Boyd that hasn’t been said recently? Not much. You can actually head to Jays Journal to see their interview with Matt, though! The game goes at 6:30 pm ET.
Lansing Lugnuts (8-11)
The Lugnuts are another team who have started to get hot recently and now host the Bowling Green Hot Rods with Tom Robson on the mound. Robson has been pretty bad this season so far, struggling with control, which is particularly unusual for him. Robson’s only logged 7 1/3 innings in three starts and is looking to turn things around. He faces Chris Kirsch, a 21-year-old from Chester, Pennsylvania who hasn’t been particularly good in his last two starts, giving up six runs on nine hits twice. Will either of these pitchers find themselves in tonight’s game (7:05 pm start time)?
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