Today was a very busy day for the Jays’ minor league
affiliates and for me. I took the trip
down to Buffalo (where I joined Bluebird Banter blogger Minor Leaguer to watch
the games), as all
four of the full season ball clubs were in action, with double headers in
Buffalo and Lansing. I’ll be putting
more details about the experience of going down to Buffalo in our
upcoming Blue Jays from Away Podcast that we should have up later this week (technical
details are being worked out).
Buffalo
Bisons (4-4)
Game 1:
The first
game action the Buffalo Bisons have seen since April 9th culminated
in an excellent victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (the NY
Yankees AAA club) 6-1. Going up against
6’8” 260 pound flame-throwing prospect Dillin Betances, Bison’s starter Dave
Bush (who we last saw getting destroyed by the Boston Red Sox last Sunday at
Rogers Centre) had a fantastic start, confounding the Railriders at every step,
throwing 5 innings, giving up only 1 unearned run on three hits. Brad Lincoln had a rough inning of his own
while Juan Perez threw a clean 7th to finish the game (minor league
double headers are only 7 innings each game).
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| Bush warming up in the pen |
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| Bush warming up in the pen |
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| Gose putting a ball in play (note the splash of dirt in front of the plate) |
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| Jim Negrych putting the ball in play |
The offense
was driven by 3B Andy Laroche, C Josh Thole and SS Ryan Goins who drove in the
six runs in the bottom of the first inning, with LaRoche and Goins hitting
doubles. Anthony Gose went three for
four, but really didn’t look great at the plate. He struck out in his other plate appearance
and seemed to have trouble recognizing off-speed pitches and didn’t really hit
the ball hard all day. His first hit was
an infield single, the second was a roller though the 5-6 hole, and the third
was an opposite field single on a breaking ball that he was fooled on and just
made contact with a defensive swing. He
also had a rough day on the basepaths, getting caught stealing and picked off. Moises Sierra gunned down Don Adams at the
plate to cut down a run, but made a bone-headed play in the second game,
forgetting how many outs there were after making a catch and continuing to run
towards center field while a runner on second tagged up and took third.
Hitting:
Jim Negrych –
1/4, R
Anthony Gose
– 3/4, R, K, CS, PO
Moises
Sierra – 0/3, R, BB, K, OF Asst.
Mauro Gomez –
0/2, BB, K, E
Josh Thole –
1/2, R, 2 RBI, BB
Andy LaRoche
– 2/3, R, 2B, RBI
Ryan Langerhans – 1/2, R, 2B, BB
Eugenio Velez – 0/3
Ryan Goins – 1/3, 2B, 3 RBI, K
Pitching:
Dave Bush –
W, 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 K
Brad Lincoln
– 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Juan Perez –
1 IP
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Dave Bush
Game 2:
The second
game of the double header was a much less satisfying outcome for the Bisons, taking
a 12-5 loss on Sunday. 42-year-old Miguel
Batista, still firing in the low 90s and making his first appearance of 2013,
couldn’t make it out of the first inning, giving up three runs (only one
earned) in two thirds of an inning, throwing a lot of pitches, and struggling
to throw strikes (although, he didn’t have much help from the defense). The
other four pitchers who pitched in the game (pretty much everything the Bisons
had left in the bullpen) also pitched poorly, with only Alex Hinshaw avoiding giving
up runs. Hinshaw walked four in one and
a third innings, so we can hardly call that a successful outing.
The two
unearned runs in the first came from first baseman Mauro Gomez’s second error
on the day. Gomez looked downright awful at first base, showing absolutely no
ability to get to a ball hit outside of arm’s length, and no ability to catch a
ball hit directly at him. He MUST be
better than he showed today, but I would expect to see Luis Jimenez playing
first and Gomez DHing a lot more in the future.
Hitting:
Mike McCoy –
2/2, 2B, RBI, BB, CS
Anthony Gose
– 1/4, R, K
Moises
Sierra – 1/4, 2B
Mauro Gomez –
1/4, R, 2B, RBI
Ryan
Langerhans – 2/3, R, BB, K
Andy LaRoche
– 0/4, 2 K
Jim Negrych –
2/2, R, BB
Eugenio
Velez – 1/2, R, 3B, 3 RBI, BB
Mike Nickeas
– 0/3
Pitching:
Miguel
Batista – 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 0 K
Mickey
Storey – 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Buddy
Carlyle – 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 3 K
Alex Hinshaw
– 1 1/3 IP, 4 BB, 1 K
Neil Wagner –
1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Mike McCoy
New
Hampshire Fisher Cats (6-5)
The
Binghamton Mets picked away at starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx to score six runs
over the first five innings while the New Hampshire Fisher Cats only managed to
scratch out single runs in the third, fifth, and eighth innings to fall
6-3. Matt Wright and Trystan Magnuson
finished the game strong while Brad Glenn hit a solo shot in the 5th
inning for his first home run of the season in the loss. Kevin Pillar and Kevin Nolan had two hits a
piece (including one double each) while Pillar contributed with an outfield
assist, throwing out Allan Dykstra at the plate.
Hitting:
Kenny Wilson
– 0/3, 3 K
Kevin Pillar
– 2/4, 2B, RBI, OF Asst.
Ryan Schimpf
– 1/3, 2B, BB, K
Clint
Robinson – 0/3, BB, K
Adam Loewen –
0/4, 2 K
Kevin Nolan –
2/4, 2B, E
Brad Glenn – 1/4, R, HR, RBI, K
Sean Ochinko
– 1/4, R, K
John
Tolisano – 1/4, R, 2B, K
Pitching:
Austin Bibens-Dirkx – L, 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 6
R, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
Matt Wright –
2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Trystan
Magnuson – 1 IP, 3 K
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Kevin
Pillar
Dunedin Blue
Jays (7-3)
The Lakeland
Flying Tigers were finally able to get to starting pitcher Jesse Hernandez with
a run in the seventh inning, and it was enough as the Dunedin Blue Jays only
managed three hits in a 2-0 loss.
Hernandez was outstanding, scattering eight hits and one walk before
exiting with two on and one out in the seventh, and reliever Tony Davis couldn’t
shut the door on the Flying Tigers, allowing the eventual winning run. The biggest news from this game came from
major leaguer Brett Lawrie who picked up two of the three hits for the D-Jays
while playing second base.
Hitting:
Jonathan
Jones – 0/4
Andy Burns –
0/3, BB
Brett Lawrie
– 2/4
Kevin
Patterson – 0/3, K
Marcus
Knecht – 0/3
Pierce
Rankin – 1/3, 2B
Jon Berti PR – 0/0
Nick Baligod – 0/3
Derrick Chung – 0/3
Peter Mooney – 0/3
Pitching:
Jesse Hernandez – L, 6 1/3 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1
BB, 2 K
Tony Davis –
1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB
Blake
McFarland – 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB
Marco
Grifantini – 2/3 IP
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Jesse
Hernandez
Lansing
Lugnuts (3-6)
Game 1:
The Lugnuts
wasted a great pitching performance from 18-year-old Roberto Osuna, getting
no-hit by Southbend Silver Hawk starter Kyle Schepel in a 1-0 loss. Osuna, most likely on a pitch limit, threw
four and two thirds innings, giving up only one run on four hits and walk while
striking out six, again, showing why he’s one of the top young arms in the
system. He was picked up by Griffin “Rollie”
Murphy for two and a third innings of great relief.
Hitting:
Dalton Pompey
– 0/1
Chris Hawkins – 0/2, 2 K
Gustavo
Pierre – 0/3, K
Christian
Lopes – 0/3, K
Balbino
Fuenmayor – 0/3, 2 K
Kellen
Sweeney - 0/2, K
Santiago
Nessy – 0/1, BB
Emilio
Guerrero – 0/2
Ronald
Melendez – 0/2
Pitching:
Roberto
Osuna – L, 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K
Griffin
Murphy – 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Roberto Osuna
Game 2:
The second
game wasn’t much of an improvement for the Lugnuts as they fell 8-2 to South
Bend. MLB.com #3 prospect Daniel Norris
got hit hard again, going only four innings and giving up five of the eight
runs. While he only walked one batter
(and struck out five), he threw two wild pitches on the evening. DH Christian Lopes rapped two hits for the
home side while Gustavo Pierre hit a double and 1B Balbino Fuenmayor and SS
Jorge Flores each drove in a run.
Hitting:
Dalton Pompey
– 1/3, R, BB, K
Gustavo
Pierre – 1/4, 2B
Christian
Lopes – 2/4, K
Balbino
Fuenmayor – 0/3, RBI, BB
Kellen
Sweeney – 1/2 , R, BB
Carlos
Ramirez – 0/3, 2 K
Chris
Hawkins – 0/3
Seth Conner –
0/2, K
Jorge Flores
– 0/3, 2B, RBI, E
Pitching:
Daniel
Norris – L, 4 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Matt Johnson
– 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, K
Ben White –
1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Chuck
Ghysels – 1 IP, K
Blue Jays
from Away Player of the Game: Christian Lopes
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