Blue Jays MiLB Recap: Losing Close Games

Three teams were n action in the Blue Jays system last night. Three teams played close games. Three teams couldn’t drive in runs when it counted. Three teams lost these close games.

Buffalo Bisons- 1 Indianapolis Indians- 3

A night after turning a triple play, the Bisons (26-26) struggled to get any runs across the plate last night. They collected 7 hits, but the only one of significance is the the solo home run by Matt Hague in the 3rd inning. Hague is hitting .356. Other than that, the Bisons the only other number of note is the 12 strike outs they put up against Indians starter, Adrian Sampson. They did have their chances, though. 4 different times, batters left runners in scoring position (0-6).

Dalton Pompey continued his struggles with an 0-4 evening. Blue Jays fans will be looking to see him turn things around as soon as possible. Infielder, Ramon Santiago played his second game for the Bisons going 1-3. I’ll be keeping my eye on his progress to see what happens with him in the coming weeks.

Toronto Blue Jays

Andrew Albers (2-7) made the starts for the Bisons. In 6 innings, he gave up 4 hits and 2 earned runs. It wasn’t a great start for Albers, but it wasn’t terrible. He’d likely love to have the 3 walks back. Phil Coke made his Bisons debut last night. He went an inning and walked one and struck out one. Todd Redmond also chipped in an inning of work with a walk.

The Bisons will send Daniel Norris to the mound Wednesday in an effort to get back to winning.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats- 2 Bowie Baysox- 3

The FisherCats (25-26) had their chances last night. But, they could not capitalize. They managed 8 hits and 5 walks to put lots of runners on, but could’t cash them in, going 2-11 with runners in scoring position. Recently anointed leadoff hitter, Jorge Flores did his part, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. He’s hitting 323 on the season. Melky Mesa chipped in a triple as well. None of it amounted to enough since all the opponent ever has to do is score one more run than you. That’s what the Baysox did.

The night’s starter, John Anderson went 6 innings giving up 4 hits, 2 earned runs on a walk and 3 K. It wasn’t a bad outing, really. But, he’d need to be better than that if his offense is as cold as they were. In 10 starts, Anderson is 1-2, 5.21 with 19 BB and 35 K. Opponents are hitting .284 this season against the 26 yr old lefty.

The FisherCats will try for redemption Wednesday against the Baysox.

Lansing Lugnuts (31-21)

The Lugnuts, who are currently in first place in the Widwest League Eastern Division, were off on Tuesday evening. They’ll take on the Burlington Bees Wednesday. The Lugnuts will send Shane Dawson to the mound to defend his 7-2, 2.67 record. And, since it is Wednesday, the Lugnuts will be bringing out Humphrey the camel for “Hump Day”! The guy to watch is Anthony Alford. He’s slashing .307/.454/.394 for the Lugnuts. In 35 games, he’s scored 35 runs and walked 33 times.

Dunedin Blue Jays- 3 Clearwater Threshers- 4

The baby Jays were in action against the Clearwater Threshers on Tuesday. It was a close contest going into the 10th inning. But, Dunedin lost 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th, bringing their record to 22-30. This time last year, this team could do no wrong. They were rolling with guys like Dalton Pompey and Dwight Smith Jr., to name a couple. Not quite the same this season. Jairo Labourt took the mound for his 9th start of the season. And, it was a pretty good one. It was a start that we’d take from one of the big league 5 any day. Labourt went 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 earned runs with one walk and 5 strike outs. For me, it is good to see him have this kind of walk/strike out ratio. In 2014, Labourt walked 12.86 batters per 9 innings. This season, he’s cut that in half.

There wasn’t really a whole lot of offense, really. The Jays collected just 5 hits in total from 5 different guys. As a team, they managed just one walk and struck out 6 times, including 3 from Derrick Loveless. Obviously, this is not the kind of performance that wins you many games. Perhaps the lone highlight was 2B, Christian Lopes who drove in the runs on his only hit of the evening. He’s hitting .278 on the season.

Another name that folks might be wondering about is the leadoff hitter in last night’s contest, CF Roemon Fields. He went 1- 5 against the Threshers. He is hitting .217 on the season with 15 RBI, but 37(!) K. Recently, our Ryan Mueller highlighted him in our MiLB Stock Watch. The speedster has 18 steals on the year thus far, but just 4 in his last 10.

Next: Time for Blue Jays to Double Down on Michael Saunders?