June 25 Minor League Report/June 26 Preview

Dalton Pompey
Dalton Pompey

 

The Jays drop one to the Yanks and the Fisher Cats were rained out but Aaron Sanchez got to pitch again for the Buffalo Bisons!

 

 

Buffalo Bisons 5, Columbus Clippers 4

 

The fans thought that they would get about five innings worth of baseball for this one after rain suspended play Tuesday night in the fourth inning. No one anticipated another nine innings, culminating with a Bisons victory in the 13th inning. After Liam Hendriks‘ four stellar innings on Tuesday night in which he only gave up two hits and struck out four, John Stilson, Steve Delabar and Bobby Korecky followed with a combined five innings. Mike Zagurski did the heavy lifting (pun intended), throwing three no-hit innings in the 10th through 12th, striking out four while Luis Ayala earned the victory with a scoreless 13th.

As for the hitters, Ryan Goins went 3/6 with two RBI while Andy LaRoche and A.J. Jimenez each had two hits. Dan Johnson was 1/4 with a double and two walks while Jared Goedert waked four times, going 0/2 with a run.

Roster Notes: The Blue Jays promoted Brad Glenn (who started Tuesday night’s game) and sent Kevin Pillar down to the Buffalo. In a move that I missed last week, Ryan Schimpf was promoted when Austin Bibens-Dirkx was send down to Double-A New Hampshire, the day after Munenori Kawasaki was promoted to Toronto.

Player of the Game: Mike Zagurski and Liam Hendriks

 

Buffalo Bisons 3, Columbus Clippers 2

 

The Buffalo Bisons emerged with a pair of victories over the Columbus club and managed to get to Danny Salazar for just enough runs to take the win. In an epic, Danny Salazar vs. Aaron Sanchez battle, Salazar was better, going all six innings and striking out seven to just two walks but Sanchez only allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out seven. Raul Valdes takes the win (yes, he pitched in the earlier game too) with one run allowed in 2 2/3 innings of work with four strikeouts. Adron Chambers went 1/3 with his second Bisons home run to even the score at two but it was a fielder’s choice by Erik Kratz that brought in Andy LaRoche with the winning run. Kevin Pillar also had two hits for the Herd.

Player of the Game: Adron Chambers

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats: Game Postponed Due to Rain

 

Dunedin Blue Jays 0, Daytona Cubs 7

 

Well, this is one that the D-Jays need to put in their rear-view mirror. Jesse Hernandez had a rough start that involved allowing seven runs (five earned) on eight hits including three home runs. Kramer Champlin and Justin Jackson combined for three shutout innings out of the bullpen. There’s not much to talk about on the hitting side. The club had just four hits including two from Dalton Pompey and and also took eight walks (including two from Peter Mooney).

Player of the Game: Dalton Pompey (Note: Pompey becomes the first player on any team to earn over 10 Player of the Game points).

 

Lansing Lugnuts 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 8

 

Frank Viola III took his first loss of the season, struggling to find his command through 4 2/3 innings, walking six batters and giving up six runs. Matt Dermody, Alonzo Gonzalez and Adaric Kelly finished the game off. Like with the Dunedin club, the Lugnuts were very quiet at the plate, getting only five hits including a single and a double from Matt Dean.

 

Matt Dean
Matt Dean

Player of the Game: Matt Dean

 

Vancouver Canadians 6, Hillsboro Hops 7

 

Canadians fans were geared up for a Miguel Castro start today and he was great through three innings, facing the minimum (allowing a walk but getting a double play) and striking out five. Things went sideways in the fourth though, as Castro walked the first two batters, struck out the third and then gave up a single, a wild pitch, another single and a home run to end his night. One bad inning torpedoed what was shaping up to be a tremendous night but Castro ends up with an ugly line of 3 1/3 innings, three hits, six runs, four walks and six strikeouts. Andrew Case finished off the fourth and pitched a perfect fifth while Mark Biggs came on for two innings, allowing one run but striking out four.

The offense did their best to get back in the game. Boomer Collins brought some boom, hitting two doubles while Ryan McBroom (or is it “McBoom”) went 2/5 with a double and an RBI. Alexis Maldonado drove in three runs and catcher Michael De La Cruz and second baseman Ryan Metzler each had a pair of hits with Metzler also adding a couple of walks.

 

Boomer Collins

Player of the Game: Ryan Metzler and Boomer Collins

 

Bluefield Blue Jays 8, Pulaski Mariners 2

 

Despite getting down to Pulaski 2-0 after two innings, Bluefield stormed back with six runs over the third, fourth and fifth innings to jump out to a lead that they wouldn’t surrender. Catcher Dan Jansen hit his first home run of the season as part of a 3/4 game while Angel Rojas also went 3/4 with a single, double and triple as well as two runs scored and two RBI. Jesus Gonzalez went 2/3 with a walk, a stolen base, two runs and an RBI while Richard Urena also added two hits and a stolen base. Chase Mallard started and allowed the two runs (both unearned) on just one hit and struck out three, getting eight ground ball outs. Ryan Borucki, who appears to be piggybacking with Mallard, threw four scoreless innings of his own, allowing two hits and two walks, with two strikeouts and five groundball outs to just one fly out.

Player of the Game: Dan Jansen and Angel Rojas

 

GCL Blue Jays 0, GCL Yankees1 5

 

The GCL Blue Jays wasted a strong start from Conner Greene, who went five scoreless innings and allowed just one hit and one walk with two strikeouts. Jake Brentz took over for his second appearance of the year and was better than he was last time but still allowed three runs (one earned) in three innings with three walks and two strikeouts. Jonathan Torres finished the game, allowing another two unearned runs but walking three in his inning of relief. The batters only had three hits, one by Dave Pepe, a double by Juan Tejada and a single by Juan Kelly.

Player of the Game: Conner Greene

 

DSL Blue Jays 0, DSL Astros Orange 3

 

Another weak-hitting performance for a Blue Jays’ affiliate and another squandered start. Osman Gutierrez was dominant, going six innings and allowing three hits and two walks but striking out eight. All three runs were scored off of Wilfri Aleton and Jairo Rosario in the seventh inning and Pedro Diaz was strong, throwing the last 2 2/3 innings of the game. The batters had five hits with only one, Javier Hernandez, getting an extra-base hit (a double).

Player of the Game: Osman Gutierrez

 

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June 26 Preview

 

Buffalo Bisons (40-37)

 

Deck McGuire heads to the mound for the Herd in another day game (1:05 PM ET). For some reason McGuire seems to be getting these assignments frequently!

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (32-44)

 

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats will send righty Scott Copeland (5-6, 3.81 ERA) against Jason Wheeler of the New Britain Rock Cats at 7:05 PM ET in a game that’s available on MiLB TV. Wheeler is 23-year-old lefty who has only made one start for Double-A New Britain since being promoted after a strong first half in High-A Fort Myers.

 

Dunedin Blue Jays (48-28)

 

At 7:05 PM, Dunedin continues its series on the road in Daytona with Kendall Graveman (6-3, 3.16 ERA) on the mound to face Justin Amlung (1-2, 6.23 ERA).

 

Lansing Lugnuts (35-40)

 

Chase De Jong, coming off his best start of the year, will face Chad Green of the West Michigan Whitecaps at 7:05 PM. De Jong hasn’t walked anyone in his last two starts and in his last outing, struck out eight in six innings. Chad Green is yet another very good starting pitcher for West Michigan, posting a 3.08 ERA in 76 innings this year.

 

Vancouver Canadians (7-6)

 

The Vancouver Canadians come home to face the Tri-City Dust Devils and send Zakery Wasilewski (1-0, 0.77 ERA) against Tyler Gagnon at 10:05 PM ET.

Bluefield Blue Jays (3-4)

 

The Bluefield Blue Jays have Alberto Guzman on the hill to face the Pulaski Mariners at 7:05 PM. Guzman allowed two runs in his only appearance this year which lasted only one inning.

 

Don’t forget that the GCL and DSL Blue Jays are in action today too!

 

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All photos are copyright Blue Jays from Away (2013-2014) and may not be used without permission.