April 18, 2017 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Report

By Jay Blue
Blue Jays from Away

With all of the Blue Jays’ minor league teams back in action on Tuesday, the clubs were 1-3 as New Hampshire and Dunedin were done in by late rallies by their opponents and the Lugnuts were blown out in Dayton. Only the Buffalo Bisons came away with a win against the Norfolk Tides.

Buffalo Bisons 4, Norfolk Tides 3
The Bisons (8-3) continued their run of strong play with a 4-3 victory over the Tides, the Baltimore Orioles’ top farm club. The Bisons’ pitching held the Tides to just five hits with Casey Lawrence getting the start. Lawrence threw two innings, needing just 25 pitches and throwing 19 strikes despite giving up one of the Tides’ two runs. That run came on a solo home run by Pedro Alvarez which was the only hit Lawrence surrendered while striking out three. Murphy Smith made his first appearance with Buffalo this year and picked up the win by adding three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out a pair. Jeff Believau gave up a solo home run to Robert Andino and that was the only hit he allowed in 1 2/3 innings. Leonel Campos struck out three in 1 1/3 innings of work while Chad Girodo got the save, pitching the ninth and allowing an unearned run on two hits with one strikeout.

The Bisons combined for seven hits, getting a 2/4 performance including ah ome run and two RBI from Dwight Smith, Jr. Jake Elmore and Alex Monsalve each had a hit and an RBI (Elmore’s coming from a sacrifice fly) while Darrell Ceciliani returned to the lineup with a 1/3 game, adding a walk and a run.

Player of the Game: Dwight Smith, Jr.

Roster Notes: The Bisons activated Matt Dermody after he had been sent down to the Bisons and activated Darrell Ceciliani from the DL while the Jays promoted Ty Kelly and Danny Barnes to the big league club.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 1, Trenton Thunder 5
The Fisher Cats couldn’t hold their one-run lead into the late innings, falling to the Thunder 5-1 on Tuesday. Sean Reid-Foley had his best start of the year but it still wasn’t without its concerns. Reid-Foley went three innings but needed 72 pitches, only 41 of them strikes, to get nine outs and allowed three hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Dusty Isaacs followed with two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk with three strikeouts. Carlos Ramirez allowed an unearned run in the seventh to let the Thunder tie the game at one but he didn’t allow a hit and walked two while striking out three in two innings. Alonzo Gonzalez gave up four runs in the eighth inning, taking the loss.

The Fisher Cats’ offense continued to be slugging, scoring just once on a Tim Lopes double n the second inning. Lopes was 2/5 with a stolen base on the day while Anthony Alford stole his sixth base of the season, going 2/3 with a pair of singles and a walk.

Player of the Game: Tim Lopes and Anthony Alford

Dunedin Blue Jays 5, St. Lucie Mets 10
Dunedin fought to tie the game after five innings and the score remained 5-5 until the top of the 11th when St. Lucie scored five more runs, which the Blue Jays couldn’t match, beating the home side 10-5. Max Pentecost made his catching debut with the Dunedin Blue Jays and added a solid game with the bat, going 1/3 with a a run. Derrick Loveless continued to make his case for a promotion to Double-A, slamming four hits with a two doubles, an RBI, a run and two stolen bases. Juan Kelly also had a pair of hits (including a double) and two walks, driving in a run and scoring one. Lane Thomas had a triple in his second consecutive game, going 2/6 with a run and three outfield assists.

Starter Jordan Romano had a rough outing, allowing five runs on 10 hits and three walks in five innings. Ryan Cook was solid throwing 1 2/3 following him, giving up just a hit while Daniel Young held the fort with an inning of perfect ball. Justin Shafer continued his scoreless season, adding 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball with two strikeouts to his season’s stats but it was Kender Villegas who took the loss in the 11th, allowing five runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings and Josh DeGraaf mopping up with the final out.

Player of the Game: Derrick Loveless

Lansing Lugnuts 2, Dayton Dragons 11
The Dayton continued to maul the Lugnuts (7-5) pitching, scoring 11 times off of starter Justin Maese on their way to an 11-2 win on Tuesday. Justin Maese was charged with all 11 of those runs, seven of which were earned as Maese allowed 10 hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings but he still got a nice six-to-one ratio of ground outs to fly outs. Geno Encina settled in after allowing the two inherited runners to score but provided 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out three and walking one. Tayler Saucedo finished the game with a scoreless eighth.

Bo Bichette led the offense that couldn’t match its 13 runs they scored on Monday. Bichette was 2/3 with a walk and a run while Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Bradley Jones were each 1/4 with an RBI.

Player of the Game: Bo Bichette

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