By Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

Hours removed from making his long-awaited Blue Jays debut, RHP Deck McGuire has been optioned to triple-A Buffalo in favor of fellow righty, Danny Barnes.

Dispatched to triple-A on May 5, Barnes rejoins the club after spending the last 10 days in the International League. Over that span, he pitched in a pair of ball games and turned in two scoreless frames while striking out four of the six batters faced.

With Toronto, the 28-year-old product of Manhasset, N.Y., posted an overall ERA of 2.57 with 15 strikeouts against eight walks through 14 innings of work prior to his demotion earlier this month. 

Despite the fact that he had allowed a rather large number of baserunners through his first 16 major league games in 2018, Barnes' relegation was a product of the options remaining on his contract.  Should the Blue Jays find themselves in a tight spot again this season, it's likely that a similar scenario may unfold for the veteran who's in his third big league season.

McGuire, 28, entered in the fifth inning of Tuesday night's 12-2 loss to the New York Mets and fired 3 1/3 innings of three-run ball, striking out three and walking one batter.

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