April 29 Minor League Report/April 30 Preview

 

Marcus Stroman
Marcus Stroman

 

On a day when all eyes were on Buffalo, Marcus Stroman did not disappoint. There were some other good performances by Blue Jays’ farmhands too, although they may have flown a bit under the radar thanks to Stroman’s stellar performance. Head over to Jays Journal for their minor league report by the incomparable Michael Wray.

 

 

Buffalo Bisons 4, Louisville Bats 1

 

The Bisons got two runs in the second and one run in the third for Marcus Stroman and that would be enough. The young pitcher who turns 23 on Saturday, was almost perfect, shredding his way through a weak Louisville lineup giving up just one walk and striking out 10. Watching on MiLB TV, it was pretty insane. His control was very good and when he missed, it was out of the zone (as opposed to right in the middle). His changeup looked sharp, as did his curveball but Stroman was living on his four-seam fastball and his cut fastball to get a lot of swings and misses over his very economical six innings using just 80 pitches. Austin Bibens-Dirkx came in to relieve Stroman in the seventh and surrendered the Bats’ only run while Bobby Korecky continues to be outstanding in the bullpen. Korecky and Neil Wagner each threw a scoreless inning to complete the game. Steve Tolleson, playing shortstop, had a good game for the Bisons, going 2/4 and driving in a run, for the only multi-hit game of the day.

Player of the Game: Marcus Stroman

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2, Trenton Thunder 4

 

The Fisher Cats got a sub-par performance from Deck McGuire who gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks with just one strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. McGuire needed 107 pitches (61 strikes) to get through those innings and gave up eight fly ball outs to just three ground ball outs. John Anderson threw two shutout innings in one of his best outings of the year, giving up one hit, walking two but striking out four. Mike Crouse had a big game on offense, going 3/4 while Brian Van Kirk went 2/4 with a double and Jon Berti went 2/5. Brad Glenn hit his fourth home run of the season, also taking a walk in a 1/3 day.

 

Brad Glenn
Brad Glenn

 

Player of the Game: Brad Glenn

 

Dunedin Blue Jays 4, Tampa Yankees 1

 

The Dunedin Blue Jays won their 20th game of the season on Tuesday, led by Daniel Norris and Gustavo Pierre. Norris moved his record to 3-0 thanks to five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Justin Jackson went an inning and two-thirds, allowing the Yankees’ only run on two hits and two walks while Efrain Nieves, Danny Barnes and Arik Sikula combined to finish out the game. Norrish drops his ERA to 0.75 and Sikula dropped his to 0.84 while notching his ninth save. Pierre went 3/4 with a triple and two runs scored while Jorge Flores went 2/4 with a stolen base and Derrick Chung went 2/5 with a double. Dwight Smith, Jr. had two RBI thanks to a sac fly and a triple while K.C. Hobson had two sac flies for the D-Jays, giving him 27 RBI on the season. Dalton Pompey was on base twice and stole two bases to give him 14 without having been caught.

 

Daniel Norris
Daniel Norris

 

Player of the Game: Daniel Norris and Gustavo Pierre

 

Lansing Lugnuts 4, Dayton Dragons 2 – Game Suspended in the 4th inning

 

The Lugnuts/Dragons game was suspended and will be completed today. Chase De Jong got the start and gave up two runs (one earned) in three innings on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts which is a strikeout to walk ratio that we should get used to seeing from De Jong. He came out after the first rain delay. The bats got off to a good start with two hits from Justin Atkinson (now hitting .302), two doubles from catcher Jorge Saez (now hitting .321) and a two-RBI double from Dawel Lugo who is starting to swing the bat better. L.B. Dantzler was also 1/1 when the game was suspended while D.J. Davis was 1/3.

 

 

April 30 Preview

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (11-12)

 

The Fisher Cats take on the Trenton Thunder at home and the game’s pitchers have not been announced. That said, it could very well be Matt Boyd who makes his Double-A debut tonight; if he pitches tonight, it will be on regular rest. Boyd’s announcement hasn’t been announced officially but it would not surprise me if the pitching shifts that have been in the works get announced today. The game time is a fairly unusual 5:35 pm ET.

 

Dunedin Blue Jays (20-5)

 

The D-Jays take on the Tampa Yankees again and, like with the New Hampshire game, the starters haven’t been announced. It would not surprise me at all to see Kendall Graveman in a Dunedin Blue Jays uniform for today’s game; he last pitched in Lansing on April 24 which makes today his sixth day since his last outing. The game is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

 

Lansing Lugnuts (10-13)

 

Tom Robson
Tom Robson

 

The Lugnuts will have a long day in Dayton today (provided the weather holds up). First, they finish last night’s rain-suspended game at 5:30 pm and then, in a 7-inning game, Tom Robson goes against the Dragons’ Nick Travieso, a 20-year-old righty from Pembroke Pines, Florida. Travieso has been outstanding for Dayton so far, throwing 22 innings in four starts with a 1.23 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, 18 strikeouts and only three walks. Robson, on the other hand, hasn’t had a good start all year, maxing out at four innings but walking at least two and giving up at least two runs in each outing. The control is probably the biggest issue for Robson so far but he’s definitely been getting more ground balls in his last two starts, a trend that could indicate that he’s finding a comfort zone and he’ll hopefully start to turn things around today.

 

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