Blue Jays Minor League Report: D-Jays the lone winners

Scores and analysis for Toronto Blue Jays minor league games played on Saturday, May 21st

Buffalo Bisons (21-22)   –   4
Pawtucket Red Sox (21-22)   –   7

Scott Diamond endured a rare tough outing on Saturday, allowing five earned runs on nine hits over five and two-thirds innings. Three walks hurt Diamond, too, as he’s rarely one to rack up strikeouts, but his season ERA still rests at a very strong 2.96.

David Aardsma (5.27 ERA) allowed one earned run on three hits in one and a third of relief work. Chad Jenkins (2.57 ERA) allowed a run in his lone frame and Pat McCoy (1.17 ERA) pitched a clean ninth.

Jesus Montero (.295 AVG) launched his fourth home run of the season and Devon Travis doubled in a 1-for-4 day. Andy Burns went 2-for-4 to with a pair of singles.

Wade LeBlanc takes his 1.64 ERA to the mound on Sunday for the series finale.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (19-21)   –   3

Hartford Yard Goats (26-15)   –   5

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Offence was an issue again for the Fisher Cats, getting out-hit 12-6. Jorge Saez hit his second home run of the season and Dwight Smith Jr. went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .242. He also added his second stolen base.

Luis Santos got the start for New Hampshire, pitching six innings of four-run ball, allowing seven hits and striking out three. Left-hander Danny Barnes pitched two scoreless innings of relief to bring his ERA to 0.84 and Murphy Smith (0.42 ERA) continued to dominate with a scoreless frame of his own.

Dunedin Blue Jays (18-25)   –   3
Bradenton Marauders (21-20)   –   1

The D-Jays pitchers limited Bradenton to just five hits. Starter Chris Rowley (2-0, 3.15 ERA) pitched six innings of shutout ball and has looked much stronger in recent action. Adonys Cardona did allow a run in his brief outing (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB) before Matt Dermody (1.96 ERA) shut it down over the final two and a third.

Dickie Joe Thon hit his first home run of the season to lead the offence. Anthony Alford had a great game too, going 3-for-5 with a run scored. Dunedin is still searching for a full offensive effort, however, as just one of their nine starters left play Saturday with an average above .270.

Francisco Rios (1-1, 2.92 ERA in Dunedin) takes the mound on Sunday afternoon.

Lansing Lugnuts (20-20)   –   4
Great Lakes Loons (19-21)   –   5

It was another strong day for Max Pentecost at the plate as the catcher (who is still DH’ing for the foreseeable future) went 2-for-4 with a walk.

Andrew Guillotte was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs out of the leadoff spot while Gunnar Heidt added a double and a single to move his average to .242.

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Sean Reid-Foley (4.20 ERA) ran into some trouble, allowing five earned runs on six hits over four and two-thirds innings. He added four walks to six strikeouts, so hit pitch count quickly rose to 91. Starlyn Suriel took the remaining three and a third innings. The young Dominican right-hander continues to give the Lugnuts some great value out of their bullpen after working as a starter last season, and now owns a 1.82 ERA.