Wednesday, April 10, 2013

April 9 Minor League Report


Today was a dark day in Blue Jays Land.  All five active teams lost, from the Big League club (losing 7-3 in Detroit) all the way down to the Lansing Lugnuts losing 8-3 to the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

Buffalo Bisons (3-3)

After scoring two runs in the first inning against veteran minor leaguer Ross Ohlendorf , the bats went silent, getting only two hits the rest of the way as the Syracuse Chiefs won a rain-shortened game 8-2 in five innings.  Starter Justin Germano didn’t have a great game today, giving up eleven hits and 7 runs; on the bright side, he didn’t walk anyone and struck out five.  The biggest concern for a pitcher like Germano is that his stuff is very hittable if he’s not  hitting his spots, and it’s looking like AAA hitters have been able to get to him in the early going of the 2013 season after a great major league spring training.  

Jim Negrych gets the player of the game nod as he had two of the team’s five hits, including a double, to raise his batting average to .667 on this young season.  Newly acquired 1B Mauro Gomez went 0 for 1 with a walk in his soggy Buffalo debut while DH Luis Jimenez has gone one for ten over the past three games after starting with a five for twelve hot streak that included two home runs over the team’s first three games.

In other Buffalo news, the Blue Jays signed Miguel Batista to a minor league contract, mainly to be a long man in the bullpen and a spot starter for the Bisons and the organization sent Monday’s starter, Casey Lawrence, back to A-Advanced Dunedin.

Hitting:

Jim Negrych – 2/2, R, 2B, BB
Anthony Gose – 1/3, R, 3B, RBI, 2 K
Moises Sierra – 2/3, RBI
Luis Jimenez – 0/3, K
Mauro Gomez – 0/1, BB
Andy LaRoche – 0/2, E
Ryan Langerhans – 0/2
Josh Thole – 0/1, BB, 1 SBA         
Munenori Kawasaki – 0/2, K

Pitching:

Justin Germano – L, 5 IP, 11 H, 8 R (7 ER), 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game: Jim Negrych

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (3-3)

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats fell in their second game against the Trenton Thunder 5-1 to even up the series at 1-1.  The offense managed very little against the Trenton pitching staff, led by Caleb Cotham making his AA debut.  The best part of the evening for the Fisher Cats was the second consecutive strong start turned in by Austin Bibens-Dirkx who took the loss despite pitching seven innings giving up two runs (one earned), scattering six hits and two walks while striking out three.  John Tolisano had a rough day in the field, despite a good day with the bat.  He went two for three with the team’s only RBI, but made three fielding errors.

Hitting:

Kenny Wilson – 1/3, B, 2K
Kevin Pillar – 1/4, K, OF Asst.
Ryan Schimpf – 0/4, K, E
Clint Robinson – 0/2, BB, K
Ricardo Nanita – 0/4
Kevin Nolan – 1/3, R, BB
Brad Glenn – 2/4, K
Sean Ochinko – 0/4, 2 K
John Tolisano – 2/3, RBI, BB, K, CS, 3 E

Pitching:

Austin Bibens-Dirkx – L, 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 3 K
Trystan Magnuson – 2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game: Austin Bibens-Dirkx

Dunedin Blue Jays (3-2)

In the most exciting game of the night, the Dunedin Blue Jays took the Tampa Yankees to the bottom of the ninth inning.  Down by two runs, the D-Jays loaded the bases on a single by 3B Andy Burns and walks by 1B Gabe Jacobo and LF Matt Newman.  This loaded the bases with two outs for catcher Aaron Munoz.  Reliever Joel De La Cruz managed to induce Munoz into hitting into a soft groundout to shortstop to end the game with the Yankees on top 4-2.  

It was a well pitched game for the most part, although starter Jesse Hernandez walked four batters to go with his five strikeouts in his 4 2/3 innings.  Ajay Meyer pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief while Scott Gracey gave up only one in his two innings.  The D-Jays got two hits apiece from Burns, RF Michael Crouse, and CF Jonathan Jones.

Hitting:

Jon Berti  - 0/4, RBI
Peter Mooney – 1/4, K
Andy Burns – 2/4, R, 3B, 2 K
Gabe Jacobo – 0/3, BB, 2 K
Kevin Patterson – 0/3, RBI, 2 K
Michael Crouse – 2/4, 2B, K, CS
Matt Newman – 1/3, BB
Aaron Munoz – 0/4, 2 K, PB, 1 CSA (Caught Stealing Against), 1 SBA
Jonathan Jones – 2/3, R, 3B


Pitching:
Jesse Hernandez – 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Ajay Meyer – 2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1K
Scott Gracey – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game: Ajay Meyer

Lansing Lugnuts (3-3)

The Bowling Green Hot Rods ran roughshod over the Lansing Lugnuts to take an 8-3 victory and even up the Lugnuts' record at 3-3.  Javier Avendano got into early trouble starting in the bottom of the second by giving up a bizarre inside the park home run to Marty Gantt (you can read about it HERE).  Avendano continued to struggle with his control, going into a lot of deep counts and walking three in his 3 2/3 innings. 

Another concerning trend that we're starting to see, particularly from Bowling Green, is the huge number of stolen bases against the Lugnuts.  In today's game, against backup catcher Seth Conner, the Hot Rods stole six bases with only Tyle Goeddel caught stealing.  So far in this series, the Lugnuts have given up nine stolen bases and have only caught one runner.  

Second baseman Christian Lopes and shortstop Emilio Guerrero continue to swing hot bats for the Lugnuts and no one else really did much today.  Lopes had 3 hits including a hard hit infield single and his first home run of the year while Guererro hit a double for the Lugnuts' only other extra base hit.  Hot CF Canadian prospect, Dalton Pompey, came out of the game in the 3rd inning. At the time of posting, the reason was still unknown.

To close my summary, I have two more bits of information courtesy of Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, the play-by-play voice of the Lansing Lugnuts.  Griffin Murphy and his "glorious" moustache made an appearance today (I saw Murphy in Spring Training and the moustache is indeed "glorious") and the mascot for the Bowling Green Hot Rods is Roscoe the Grease Monkey. 

Hitting:

Dalton Pompey – 0/1, K
                Ronald Melendez - 0/2
Gustavo Pierre – 1/4, R, RBI, K, E
Christian Lopes - 3/4, R, HR, RBI, K
Balbino Fuenmayor – 0/3, BB, K
Kellen Sweeney - 0/3, RBI, BB
Chris Hawkins – 0/4, K
Carlos Ramirez – 0/3, BB, K, CS
Seth Conner – 0/2, 2 BB, K
Emilio Guererro – 1/4, R, 2B

Pitching:

Javier Avendano - L, 3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Griffin Murphy - 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 0 K
Andrew Sikula - 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 K

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game:  Christian Lopes

------------------------------------------------------------

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @Jaysfromaway

No comments:

Post a Comment