June 5 Minor League Report
By Jay Blue
Blue Jays From Away
Friday was an “oh-fer” day with none of the Blue Jays’ farm clubs winning. Dark clouds brought a small silver lining in the fact that the Dunedin Blue Jays didn’t lose: they were postponed due to rain.

Buffalo Bisons 1, Louisville Bats 2
Despite another strong pitching performance, the Bisons dropped Friday’s game 2-1 to Louisville. Felix Doubront provided the pitching, going five innings despite some control issues. He ended up throwing 99 pitches and only 55 of them for strikes but still got eight strikeouts and walked three. Only one of the two runs he allowed was earned, a solo home run he surrendered in the first inning. Chad Jenkins let the Bats reach for three hits but no runs over two innings and Phil Coke finished the game with a scoreless eighth.

Chris Dickerson was 2/4 with a stolen base while Dalton Pompey was 2/3 with a double and an RBI. Andy Burns reached base twice with a double and a walk, and Alex Hassan was 1/3 with a walk.

Player of the Game: Doubront and Pompey

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 1, Richmond Flying Squirrels 12
A piece of the Blue Jays’ past came back to haunt them as former draft pick Tyler Beede, the Blue Jays’ first round draft pick in 2011 who never signed with them, made his first Double-A start, throwing seven masterful innings at the Fisher Cats, allowing just two hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Taylor Cole responded for the Fisher Cats, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings while striking out five. Wil Browning suffered a meltdown on the mound, allowing six runs on six hits in 2/3 of an inning while Danny Barnes surrendered another two runs on three hits and a walk in 1 1/3. Cory Burns struck out the side in the eighth and emergency lefty Matt Newman allowed a single and a walk but no further damage in the ninth inning, also picking up a strikeout.

The batters tallied just four hits and K.C. Hobson was 1/3 with a home run and a walk and Jorge Flores also was on base twice with a single and a walk.

Player of the Game: Hobson

Dunedin Blue Jays, Brevard County Manatees
Game postponed due to rain.

Roster Notes: The Blue Jays acquired minor league catcher Martin Medina from the Chicago White Sox for cash and assigned him to Dunedin.

Lansing Lugnuts 4, Burlington Bees 10
With two errors producing four unearned runs, Sean Reid-Foley didn’t have the best day, going just two innings on Friday and taking the loss. The 19-year-old righty allowed three hits and three walks in those two innings but still showed his excellent stuff by striking out five batters. Andrew Case provided two scoreless innings, allowing two hits striking out two while Chase Mallard had the big number hung on him by the Bees, giving up five runs in the eighth inning, making it clear that going out for a fourth inning of relief probably wasn’t the best idea (he pitched to seven batters in the eighth and didn’t retire any). Michael Kraft threw two innings, retiring all six batters he faced but he did allow one of the three runners he inherited from Mallard to score.

The Lugnuts hitters had a decent game, with another outstanding outing from Tim Locastro. The Midwest League All-Star snub went 3/4 with a home run to lead the way for the Lugnuts. Jason Leblebijian was 2/3 with an RBI on a sac fly while Rowdy Tellez was 2/4 with a run. Canadian catcher Mike Reeves was 1/3 with a walk and an RBI.

Player of the Game: Locastro

DSL Blue Jays 1, DSL D-backs 9
Pitcher Jose Nova took his second loss of the season, allowing two runs in just one inning, without walking or striking out anyone. While the Blue Jays have a somewhat loose policy to remove pitchers from a game if they throw 35 pitches in an inning, a four-hit, two-run inning does not seem like a 35-pitch inning causing me to wonder what was up. Tommy Henriquez pitched the next two innings and allowed three runs but Pedro Diaz shut things down for his innings; over two frames, he allowed three hits and two walks but no runs. Jose Acosta allowed another three runs (two earned) and Wilmin Lara gave up a run but struck out a pair in his in inning.

The offense had nine hits but only one run as they only had two extra-base hits. Yorman Rodriguez, the 17-year-old catcher, continues to be red hot through four games as he went 3/4 with a double, pushing his batting average to .556. Francisco Rodriguez, Kevin Vicuna and Jesus Navarra each had a pair of hits with Navarro adding a double.

Player of the Game: Rodriguez

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