Blue Jays MiLB recap – D-Jay and Lugnut hit parade

Jays Journal takes its daily look into the Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system.  Bats come to life for the D-Jays and Lugnuts.  Ravel and Fisk have great outings on the hill as well.

Buffalo Bisons vs Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals)
1-8 Loss

Pitching continues to be the source of disaster for the Bisons as T.J. House got knocked around through his six innings of work.  A four run 2nd inning off of House was capped off with a Clint Robinson solo home run.  House would allow two more runs and finished with six earned runs on nine hits and two walks.  Wil Browning got in a pair of innings and silenced the Chiefs bats during that time.  John Stilson came on in the 9th and allowed the Chiefs to run away with two more runs to seal the loss for the Herd.

I wish I could say that the Bisons were in this one at all but the bats barely showed up at the ballpark this evening.  The Herd was only able to collect three hits and a walk during this one.  Taylor Hill marched right through the Bison lineup for eight innings.  The Bisons did have two extra base hits but were only able to bring in one run.  Raffy Lopez scored the lone run and had a triple.  Gregorio Petit had the other extra base hit with a double.

Cesar Valdez will look to keep an impressive innings streak alive on Saturday.  He has pitched seven innings in three of his last four starts.

MVB – Wil Browning 2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 1 K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats vs Trenton Thunder (Yankees)
Rain Out

Mother nature remains undefeated Friday evening in New Hampshire as this one gets rained out.  The Fisher Cats and the Thunder will make up Friday’s game in a double header on Sunday.  As for the game on Saturday Conner Greene will get his start pushed back one day.  He will look to limit the hits in this outing as he has allowed 14 hits in his last 9.2 innings.

Dunedin Blue Jays vs Daytona Tortugas (Reds)
9-5 Win

After jumping out to a dominating lead in this one the D-Jays bullpen allowed four runs to the Tortugas in the 9th before wrapping it up.  Juan Kelly has found his bat and has been a force in the box the past few games.  In this one Kelly went 3-3 with a three run home run and four RBI.  Cavan Biggio also had three hits.  He hit his 4th triple of the season and drove in two runs and scored twice.  Dalton Pompey went 1-2 and scored a pair of runs as he works back from injury.  Lane Thomas also scored twice and went 1-3.   The D-Jays offense really was cooking in this one and collected a total of 12 hits.

On the mound Conor Fisk was solid through 5.1 innings.  He held the Tortugas to just five hits and a run through his outing.  Fisk was also able to strike out four but walked three batters as well.  Jackson McClelland got in to the game and and was perfect in collecting his five outs.  He also struck out two of those five batters.  Adonys Cardona struggled while on the hill and allowed four runs and recorded just four outs.  Cardona nearly let things get out of hand in the 9th inning but Ryan Cook would come through and close out the Tortugas.

No pitcher has been announced for the D-Jays yet but they will take on the Tortugas at 6:30 EST Saturday.

MVDJ – Juan Kelly 3-3 with a 3 run homer, 2 runs scored, and 4 RBI

Lansing Lugnuts at South Bend Cubs
6-4 Win

The offense turned on the jets late in this one to support a great outing by Andy Ravel.  Ravel pitched seven innings for one of his best outing of the season.  He allowed two runs in the late going but scattered eight hits and walk while limiting the damage.  Juliandry Higuera stumbled some during his inning of work and allowed the Cubs to get within striking distance.  Geno Encina however came and got the save.  This was Encina’s second save of the season.

After getting shut down for five innings against Dylan Cease the Lugnuts offense broke out against Tyler Peyton.  The Lugnuts scored all six runs while he was on the mound after the 5th inning.  The name of the game was playing station to station as the Lugnuts dropped single after single.  The Lugnuts would have 14 hits in the game and just one of those was for extra bases.  Edward Olivares recorded that extra base hit with a double and went 2-4 with a pair of runs scored.  Ridge Smith raked in most of the runs at the plate as he went 3-4 with 3 RBIs.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also had three hits and scored a run during the game.  Not to be left out Bo Bichette went 1-5 and currently sits at a .395 batting average.

Mike Ellenbest will look to follow a great bounce back performance in his previous outing.  He threw 6 innings allowing just 3 hits in that start.  He will take on the Cubs Saturday evening.

MVL – Ridge Smith 3-4 with 3 RBIs

Next: Getting close to the do or die situation