Blue Jays Minor League Report: Reid-Foley Strikes out 10 in Lugnuts win

Scores and analysis for Toronto Blue Jays minor league games played on Tuesday, May 31st

Buffalo Bisons (27-25)   –   5
Columbus Clippers (29-22)   –   1

Drew Hutchison was lights out and the Bisons were able to put up five runs, despite the top five batters in the lineup going hitless. A.J. Jiminez stayed hot in the nine-spot with a 3-for-3 night, including a pair of RBI singles and Matt Dominguez crushed his fourth home run of the season. Junior Lake and Casey Kotchman each chipped in with a couple of hits to round out the offence for Buffalo.

Hutchison went seven and a third and struck out nine Clippers hitters, while allowing just one run on three hits and a walk. He lowered his ERA to 2.93 on the season after giving up four runs in less than six innings just a week ago.

Pat Venditte and Dustin Antolin came out of the ‘pen and nailed it down in the eighth and ninth.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (24-26)   –   10
Harrisburg Senators (26-24)   –   2

Make that 30 runs in three games for the Fisher Cats recently explosive offence. Rowdy Tellez led the way with a 3-for-4 night and a pair of RBI’s while newcomer Ryan Lavarnway was 1-for-2 with three walks. Dwight Smith Jr., Melky Mesa, and Ian Parmley had two hits a piece for the Cats, who have now won four in a row.

Luis Santos started and allowed two runs in just one inning, and no injury has been reported in response to his early exit. Brady Dragmire picked up the win in three shutout innings in relief of Santos. Danny Barnes followed that up with three perfect innings and picked up five strikeouts, giving way to Murphy Smith to pitch the final two scoreless innings.

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GAME ONE:

Dunedin Blue Jays (22-30)  –   4
Daytona Tortugas (24-28)   –   7

Conner Greene could not get out of the third inning as he surrendered six runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks, including a three-run home run off the bat of leadoff hitter Blake Butler. Greene has still not pitched a scoreless outing this season. On the other hand, with his one inning of relief, Colton Turner has still not given up a run in 22.2 innings this year.

Notables from the Blue Jays bats include Derrick Loveless hitting his third home run of the season, Richard Urena went 1-for-4 and Anthony Alford was 2-3 in the first leg of the double header.

GAME TWO:

Dunedin Blue Jays (23-30)  –   5
Daytona Tortugas (24-29)   –   3

Emilio Guerrero was the hero as his two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning broke a 3-3 tie. Reliever Tim Mayza was perfect in the eighth and ninth and racked up four K’s en route to picking up the win.

Dunedin starter Chris Rowley survived four and two thirds allowing just three runs on ten hits to give his team a chance to pull out the late victory. Alford and Urena each had another hit and catcher Jorge Saez connected on a solo home run in the fifth — his first of the year.

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Lansing Lugnuts (25-24)   –   4
Dayton Dragons (13-39)   –   3

Sean Reid-Foley tied his career high with 10 strikeouts in eight strong innings for the Lugnuts. The last time he struck out ten was exactly 364 days ago in five and two thirds against the same Dayton Dragons. SRF has struggled to find consistency in the strike zone at times this season so the 10 K’s and zero walks was a good sign his stuff is back on track. He allowed three runs on three hits before giving way to Dusty Isaacs, who picked up hit 10th save in a flawless inning.

The Lugnuts were actually down 3-2 to the lowly Dragons until Carl Wise came up with two on and nobody out in the top of the ninth inning. Wise ripped a double to left field and plated Connor Panas and Lane Thomas to give Lansing their first lead since the fourth inning.