Blue Jays MiLB Report: Big days for Tellez, Alford, Diaz

Toronto Blue Jays scores and analysis for minor league games played on Thursday, August 18th

Buffalo Bisons (63-63)   –   3
Rochester Red Wings (69-57)   –   6

A big 3rd inning was not enough for the Bisons to fend off the Red Wing Thursday night.  The luck of having Buffalo Bills great and football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly on hand signing autographs did not carry over into the game.  Andy Burns drove in a pair on a double in the three-run 3rd inning.  Domonic Brown drove in the first run on an RBI single a few batters earlier and that’s the story for the offence.  Alexi Casilla was the only Bison to not strike out during the game.

Jason Berken had a solid first inning but things fell apart after that.  He pitched 5.2 innings but allowed four earned runs (five total) and struck out four.  The big blow came on a three-run home run off the bat of Reynaldo Rodriguez.  Chad Girodo allowed a run during his 1.1 innings of work and Dustin Antolin pitched a shut out inning

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (59-65)   –   2
Binghamton Mets (56-65)   –   3

The comeback came up just short for the Cats Thursday as an early three-run deficit proved to be too much.  Richard Urena picked up an RBI single for one of the two Cat runs.  Rowdy Tellez continues to hit the ball hard as he raked in two doubles during a 3-for-4 performance.  Jorge Saez also had three hits including a double and run scored.  Derrick Loveless drove in the other run on a single.

Jeremy Gabryszwski got the start and got hit hard early as the Mets racked up 11 hits on him and three runs.  Over his 5.0 innings of work he also walked three batters but was able to work out of the majority of his issues.  He struck out six during the performance and was able to minimize the damage to keep the Cats in the game.  Brady Dragmire, John Stilson, and Murphy Smith pitched great out of the pen and allowed just two hits over the remaining four innings.

Dunedin Blue Jays (68-55)   –   6

Daytona Tortugas (68-53)   –   7

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The D-Jays lost a hard one in extra innings as they watch an early four-run lead evaporate.  Anthony Alford showed off some pop as he hit a two-run homer in the second inning to get the D-Jays on the board.  David Harris and Aaron Attaway had RBI hits in the 3rd inning.  Harris drove in one on a single and Attaway brought home a pair.  The offence ran out of steam after the four-run 3rd inning and the Tortugas came back to tie the game.

Luis Santos pitched well for 5.0 innings of work but a costly error led to some runs for the Tortugas.  Santos allowed three of the six runs in the first five innings.  Tim Mayza was solid for 3.0 innings of relief and allowed just one hit over that span.  Dusty Issacs also got in a shutout inning.  Ryan Cook was first out of the pen in the 10th inning and he gave up a game winning homer to Reydel Medina.  The offence did not get anything going in the bottom of the 10th.

Lansing Lugnuts (62-61)   –   1
Great Lakes Loons (54-68)   –  5

The Loons were able to finish off the sweep and close their gap in the second half standings to just a half a game Thursday.  Justin Atkinson drove in the lone run on a sacrifice fly during the 3rd inning.  The Lugnuts were only able to get five hits off of the Loons pitchers.  Juan Kelly had two of those hits and one was a double.  The Lugnuts left seven runners in scoring position in the loss.

Justin Maese continued pitch well and allowed just two earned runs during the start.  Maese struggled in the 2nd inning where both runs scored.  Maese walked just one batter and struck out five in six innings of work.  Tom Robson came on in relief and allowed three more runs over three innings of work.  The two big innings from the Loons sealed the win as the Lugnuts bats were unable to capitalize on base runners.

Vancouver Canadians (24-35)   –   4
Spokane Indians (28-31)   –   0

A few timely hits were all the Canadians needed in this one.  J.B. Woodman drive in run on a single to collect his 23rd RBI of the season.  Cavan Biggio drove in a run on a sac fly as he continues to be productive.  Joshua Palacios scored a run and drove in a pair on a single.  Palacios also stole his 4th base of the season.  Denis Diaz was magic on the mound Thursday as he allowed just one hit during 6.0 innings of work.  Nick Hartman followed with three shutout innings as well to complete the Canadians shut out.

Next: Scott Copeland - Picking up where he left off

Bluefield Blue Jays (30-23)   –   14
Pulaski Yankees (22-29)   –   9

Everyone’s bats were awake in this one as pitchers had nowhere to hide.  Ten Blue Jays hits turned into 14 runs but it could have been even worse for the Yankees.  The Jays only went 6-for-21 with runners in scoring position.  The Yankees hit 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position.  Bradley Jones drove in five of the Blue Jays runs on a pair of doubles.  Kalik May drove in three on two hits which included a double.  Juliandry Higuera struggled through 3.1 innings of work but allowed three earned runs.  The bullpen kept the Yankees off the board for the majority of the game as the offence ran away with the game.