Another day and another win by the Blue Jays. The minor league affiliates had another split day, with the top two teams both getting shut out and the lower two teams winning their games.
Buffalo Bisons 0, Gwinnett Braves 5
The Buffalo Bisons promoted Shawn Hill to their club and he got the start, going six innings and allowing all five Gwinnett runs on six hits (that included two home runs) and two walks while striking out six. Kevin Pillar‘s 17-game hit streak came to an end as he went 0/3 with a walk. Ryan Goins had another two hits (giving him a .333 average since being optioned to Buffalo) and Ryan Schimpf went 2/3 with a double. Ricardo Nanita was placed on the temporarily inactive list.
Player of the Game: Ryan Schimpf
New Hampshire Fisher Cats 0, Binghamton Mets 6
Greg Peavey was outstanding for the Mets, going the distance and shutting the Fisher Cat offense down and holding them to just two hits with one each from Andy Burns (1/3) and Yusuf Carter (1/3). Casey Lawrence was okay for the Fisher Cats, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six and two-thirds innings.
Player of the Game: None
Dunedin Blue Jays 6, Clearwater Threshers 3
Starter Taylor Cole had one of his least effective outings of the year but it was still good enough to keep the D-Jays in the game long enough to rally for the win. Cole moves his record to 3-0 thanks to a 5 1/3-inning, three-run (two earned) outing in which he allowed eight hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Efrain Nieves threw 2 2/3 perfect innings, striking out four and Arik Sikula earned his 10th save of the season, throwing a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. Matt Newman was the offensive story of the game with a pair of doubles and three RBI while Christian Lopes had another strong game, hitting a single and a double, scoring twice and driving in one. Emilio Guerrero had a pair of hits and Adam Lind went 1/4 with a walk.
Player of the Game: Matt Newman and Efrain Nieves
Lansing Lugnuts 12, Fort Wayne TinCaps 5
Matt Dermody earned his first Midwest League win with a solid performance for the Lugnuts. He threw 5 2/3 innings with two runs allowed but he handed out three walks and was knocked for seven hits. Phil Kish surrendered the other three runs in 1 1/3 innings of work. Scott Silverstein had another solid outing, going two scoreless innings to close out the game. The top five batters in the order all had great games for the Lugnuts. Despite striking out three times and getting caught stealing for his sixth time this year, D.J. Davis had a single and a double. Derrick Loveless, hitting in the two hole, went 1/3 with two walks and scored three times, Mitch Nay was 3/4 with a walk and two runs, L.B. Dantzler was 2/4 with a walk, a double, three runs scored and three RBI and Matt Dean went 3/5 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBI. Justin Atkinson and Dawel Lugo each drove in a pair of runs.
Player of the Game: L.B. Dantzler
May 8 Preview
Buffalo Bisons (18-12)
The Bisons try to rebound from the shutout that Gwinnett threw at them yesterday by sending Sean Nolin to the mound against Hector Rodriguez. Rodriguez, a 29-year-old lefty, is 3-3 with a 2.73 ERA, and a palindromic 31 to 13 strikeout to walk ratio. Nolin’s numbers aren’t quite so neat but they are good. The 24-year-old lefty is 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings and a 28 to 11 K/BB ratio. While the numbers are good, Nolin is likely to have been pretty lucky with just a .197 BABIP. Catch the early, 10:35 AM start on MiLB TV.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (14-17)
The Fisher Cats head on the road to Double-A Portland where they face the Red Sox’ Eastern League affiliate Sea Dogs and one of the most talented teams in the league. Second baseman Mookie Betts, 21, has been the talk of minor league baseball, hitting .407/.463/.610 for the Sea Dogs so far this season. The Fisher Cats will face another top prospect in 21-year-old lefty Henry Owens. Owens has been solid this season with a 3.89 ERA and 35 to 13 K/BB ratio in 34 2/3 innings so far. He’s coming off a few starts in which he’s been hit fairly hard and could be hittable for the veteran Fisher Cats team. New Hampshire sends Aaron Sanchez to the mound. Sanchez has a nifty 2.55 ERA but has struggled with his control, walking 19 batters in 35 1/3 innings and has 29 strikeouts. Catch this game at 6:00 PM ET on MiLB TV. I know I will be!
Dunedin Blue Jays (24-8)
The D-Jays “travel” to Clearwater to take on the Threshers. Ben White (1-1, 3.34 ERA) takes on Jon Prosinski (0-2, 6.08). Prosinski, a 23-year-old, 6-foot-3 righty, has been hit hard this season, to the tune of 38 hits in 26 2/3 innings but is coming off his best start of the season, a seven-inning, one-run outing against Dunedin on April 26. White isn’t flashy but he gets the job done. While he’s striking out less than four batters per nine innings, he’s also walking 1.5 batters per nine and has been able to keep runners off the base paths. This game is available on the radio and internet at 7:00 pm ET.
Lansing Lugnuts (16-16)
The Lugnuts look to go over the .500 mark by sending Jeremy Gabryszwski to the mound against Johnathan Maciel and the West Michigan WhiteCaps in a rematch of Saturday’s game in Lansing. Maciel relieved injured starter Jeffrey Thompson and has been very good out of the ‘pen for the WhiteCaps, with a 2.22 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 18 strikeouts and just four walks in 24 1/3 innings. Gabryszwski is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 35 innings and is coming off his best start of the season, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing just one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
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