Blue Jays MiLB Report: A hat-trick of shutout wins

Toronto Blue Jays minor league scores and analysis for games played on Saturday, June 25th

Buffalo Bisons (42-34)   –   4
Indianapolis Indians (40-3)   –   0

The Bisons have gone from slow starters to a legitimate postseason threat. Roberto Hernandez stepped up on Saturday, throwing six shutout innings and allowing just five hits. After a scoreless inning from Brett Cecil, who’s with the Bisons in the final leg of his rehab stint, Pat Venditte and Dustin Antolin both struck out one in their lone frames of work.

Second baseman David Adams led the way offensively with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth. The heart of the order remained dangerous, too, With both Matt Dominguez and Jesus Montero going 2-for-4 with an RBI each.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (32-41)   –   0
Harrisburg Senators (40-33)   –   4

Errors cost the Fishers Cats with all four Senators’ runs coming unearned. Starter Casey Lawrence was hit with three of these unearned runs over six innings, allowing seven hits and striking out five. After an inning of work from Daniel Schlereth (1 R, 1 BB), Brady Dragmire pitched the final two frames (1 H, 1 K)

New Hampshire pounded out four doubles, with two coming off the bat of Derrick Loveless. Ryan Lavarnway picked up one himself in a 2-for-4 day that raised his average to .306.

Dunedin Blue Jays (35-37)   –   6

Tampa Yankees (43-29)   –   5

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Emilio Guerrero‘s solo home run in the top of the 12th sealed it for Dunedin. It was Guerrero’s second blast of the game as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, three runs scores and a stolen base. L.B. Dantzler drove in the other two D-Jays runs on a double while catcher Jorge Saez brought his average to .295 with a 2-for-4 day.

On the mound, Justin Shafer navigated six and two-thirds innings allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits. Lefty Alonzo Gonzalez struck out five in two and a third innings before handing off to the big right-hander Carlos Ramirez, who took it home with five strikeouts over three innings.

Lansing Lugnuts (39-34)   –   6
West Michigan WhiteCaps (39-31)   –   0

Lancing produced 14 hits with Juan Kelly leading the way, going 3-for-5 with his eighth home run of the season and three RBIs. Max Pentecost was 1-for-4 while Ryan Metzler and Ryan Hissey were both 2-for-4 from the bottom of the lineup. All nine Lansing starters collected at least one hit.

Tayler Saucedo was all Lansing needed on the mound, throwing a complete game shutout on 109 pitches. The left-hander scattered nine hits, striking out four and forcing 13 ground ball outs.

Vancouver Canadians (5-4)   –   3
Hillsboro Hops (3-6)   –   2

Vancouver out-hit Hillsboro 12-to-5, led by a 3-for-4 night (1 RBI) from Dominican right-fielder Juan Tejada. Christian Williams, Javier Hernandez, and Rodrigo Orozco all pitched in multi-hit games.

Patrick Murphy gave the C’s a quality start, throwing six innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts and no free passes. After Evan Smith (0.2 IP) and Jackson McClelland (1.1 IP) bridged the gap to the ninth, right-handed Arkansas alumnus Jackson Lowery picked up his third save of the season with a clean frame (1 K).

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Bluefield Blue Jays (1-2)   –   3
Bristol Pirates (2-1)   –   14

How about some good news off the top. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in two RBIs with a pair of ground balls despite his 0-for-3 night, and high-upside outfield prospect Reggie Pruitt was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs out of the leadoff spot.

The pitching didn’t fare as well. Puerto Rican righty Jose Espada allowed four runs on six hits over four innings and could not find his strikeout pitch. Kyle Weatherly was rocked, allowing five runs in a single inning. Andrew Deramo allowed two over two frames and Kelyn Jose allowed one run on three walks before recording an out. Some nice work from left-hander Hunter Barnett at the end, though, calming the waters with two scoreless innings.