MiLB Recap – Drenched openers spoil the mood

Apr 1, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays infielder Richard Urena (78) fields the ball during the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays infielder Richard Urena (78) fields the ball during the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Buffalo Bisons @ Pawtucket Red Sox (RAIN OUT)

Even though the Bisons were ready to charge the field on Thursday night to kick of their season the weather was not ready to cooperate.  The game was rained out pushing the opener to a Friday night opener at 6:15 in Pawtucket.  The Bisons are going to be putting an impressive amount of talent of the field this season which has only added to the excitement within the Blue Jays organization.

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Friday night’s game has pushed the Thursday starters back a day.  Drew Hutchison is expected to throw against Henry Owens.  The Bisons will be facing a former first-round pick in Owens.  The 23 year old has been progressing through the Red Sox minor leagues and even made his Major League Debut last August.  On the Bisons side, Drew Hutchison looks to keep building off a solid Spring Training in hopes of capturing his old form and becoming a stable part of the Blue Jays once again.

The rain out has also produced a double header this Saturday.  The games on Saturday will start at 12:05 and will both be just 7 innings.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats @ Binghampton Mets (RAIN OUT)

Even more rain in the northeast kept the Fisher Cats from kicking off the season last night, too.  The season will resume Friday night with the Cats sending Jeremy Gabryszwski to the mound.  Gabryszwski will be making his double-A debut and looks ready to run with it.  Last season with the Dunedin Blue Jays he collected nine wins with a 3.77 ERA.  The more impressive part was the 91 strikeouts in 129 innings while only walking 31.  Gabryszwski could be poised for a breakout year with the Fisher Cats. On the other side he will be facing Robert Gsellman for the Mets.

The Fisher Cats will be bringing some young thunder into their opening day lineup.  Jon Berti, Matt Dean, and Jorge Flores had solid seasons last year and start this years campaign with the Cats.  Also in the lineup are top prospects Roemon Fields, Dwight Smith Jr., and Rowdy Tellez.  The amount of offence that sits in this attack could be fun to watch this season.

Season commences at 7 PM EST tonight.

Dunedin Blue Jays   –   6
Clearwater Threshers   –   2

The home opener always brings excitement and there was no exceptions in Dunedin yesterday.  The Dunedin Blue Jays gave the fans a treat as they won in their season debut.  Solid pitching and a late surge of offence led the D-Jays past the Threshers.

Top Prospect Conner Greene continued his spring success and threw 5 solid innings of work Thursday.  He allowed 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 4 and only walking 1 batter.  The performance was an extension of Greene’s spring where he impressed the Blue Jays brass with his quality stuff.  He did have one mistake when allowed a pitch to drift to Mitch Walding in the second.  Walding took Greene deep for a solo homer in the 2nd inning.  The bullpen was solid after Greene and only allowed one base runner over the remaining 4 innings.  Luis Santos would record the win and Tim Mayza would finish out the last 2 innings.

More blue jays: Catch up on the Sox-Jays series preview before first pitch!

On offence it took the D-Jays a few innings to really kick it into gear after jumping ahead early.  The D-Jays scored a run off of a walk to Anthony Alford who would later score on a J.D Davis ground out.  The bats came alive in the 6th to score 3 runs.  The 3 runs were great but the D-Jays lost Anthony Alford on a sliding play at home.  Alford made it off the field without assistance but he has an apparent leg injury.  There has been no news on his status going forward.  In the 7th the offence continued as Richard Urena crushed a pitch to deep center field for his first homer of the season.  The 2 run shot put the D-Jays up 6-2 for the win.

Line of the game:   Richard Urena 2-3 with a 2-run homer and 2 RBI’s