Blue Jays MiLB Recap – Finally some games

Jays Journal takes its daily look into the Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system. Cold and rainy April weather has had the season stuck in limbo thus far, but the Jays system finally got to play the majority of their games.

Buffalo Bisons vs Louisville Bats (Reds)
Series Snows Out

Mother nature continues to hate baseball in the North East as the Bisons entire series against the Bats has been canceled. A thick coating of ice and snow in Buffalo has really put the freeze on the Bisons’ season. The players can’t even get onto the field to get a game type workout in. They must be getting restless and will not even have a chance to play until Friday. The team will travel to Norfolk where they will get ready to play and get their work in. They have to be itching to get out of the frozen tundra that is Buffalo at the moment.

Joe Biagini was able to get in a spot start with the Blue Jays last night where he threw 5.2 innings. He labored through a few of those innings as he walked three batters, beaned two more, and allowed six hits. He came out of that relatively untouched as the Royals managed just three earned runs off of him. The spot start by Biagini was just what the Jays needed as he ate up some good innings and kept them in the game.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats vs Binghampton Rumble Ponies (Mets)
3-4 Loss

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A back and forth affair ended in a loss Tuesday for the FIsher Cats. The Cats and Ponies battled back and forth with one run innings for the first five frames. A second home run by Jeff Neil off of Justin Shaffer in the 8th inning turned out to be the deciding run. Jon Harris got the start and was solid other than a pair of home runs he allowed. His final line read seven hits allowed, three earned runs, a walk, and a pair of strikeouts. Zach Jackson and Jose Fernandez pitched a shutout inning each as well before Shaffer came on. Shaffer allowed the winning run but pitched two solid innings outside of the solo bomb.

On offense, the Cats kept trying to pounce on the Ponies pitchers, but just could not put that big inning together. They finished with ten hits as a team and took four free passes. Bo Bichette opened the scoring for the Cats with a single that scored Juan Kelly. In the 4th Cavan Biggio laced a triple and came into score on an Andrew Guilotte single. The final run was scored on a triple off the bat of Max Pentecost. Bichette scored on the triple after he had walked to lead off the inning. The Fisher Cats were never out of this one but they had plenty of opportunities to blow it open. They batted just 3-15 with runners in scoring position in the close matchup.

Francisco Rios will be on the mound Wednesday and is looking for his first win. Rios has had a pair of short starts as he is looking to build up his innings. He allowed five runs in his past outing, but did not allow a run at all during his first start.

MVFC – Juan Kelly 2-3 with a pair of doubles, a run scored, a stolen base, and a walk

Dunedin Blue Jays vs Fort Myers Miracle (Twins)
5-2 Win

The D-Jays had a great showing on offense and an even better start from T.J. Zeuch. Zeuch mowed down the Miracle’s hitters for six innings and held them in complete check. He allowed five hits and a pair of walks but never allowed a run to cross the plate. All of his pitches were working perfectly as they danced through the zone for eight strikeouts. The bullpen allowed the Miracle a chance in the 7th inning as William Ouellette allowed a pair of runs. This late rally only cracked the door open for the Miracle, but Travis Bergen and Jackson McClelland slammed it back shut. Bergen picked up an out in the 8th and McClelland tossed the final four outs to pick up his 2nd save of the season.

The offense gave Zeuch a nice lead to kick off the game. A hard single by Anthony Alford led off the home half of the first. An out later Dalton Pompey doubled to center to drive in Alford. Riley Adams then singled in Pompey for the 2nd run of the inning. After Logan Warmoth was plunked by a pitch, Nash Knight doubled to left and drove in both Pompey and Warmoth. The four-run first inning was all the D-Jays pitching staff would need to cruise through this one. Alford drove in an insurance run in the 6th on a double that scored Knight. Alford and Knight both collected two hits and a double during the game.

Patrick Murphy will get the start Wednesday. He will look to keep up the good work after a pair of solid starts to begin the season. He has thrown five innings in each start, and really only had a bad inning during those outings. That bad inning led to three runs for the Cardinals. He was nearly untouchable in his first outing.

MVDJ – T.J Zeuch 6 IP, 5 hits, 0 Runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts

Lansing Lugnuts vs Lake County Captains (Indians)
2-7 Loss

A huge inning for the Captains in which they batted around the lineup sealed the loss for the Lugnuts. The Captains took command of this game in the 3rd on five singles, two doubles, a triple, and a wild pitch, spelling six runs for them in the inning. All six of those runs were scored off of Lugnuts’ starter Maverik Buffo, who lasted just 2.1 innings in this one. The Lugnuts bullpen kept things from getting to out of hand as Andy Ravel threw 2.2 innings and Kyle Weatherly went three. The pair allowed just two hits through those 5.2 innings in hopes the offense would find their footing.

The Lugnuts mighty bats were unable to crawl back, however. Samad Taylor and Cullen Large accounted for five of the seven Lugnuts hits, and Large had an RBI on his second home run of the season. Kevin Smith drove in the only other run on a single.

Donnie Sellers will get his first start of the season as he takes on the Captains on Wednesday. Sellers was incredible in his last outing. He threw five innings and struck out twelve without allowing a run.

MVL – Andy Ravel + Kyle Weatherly (combined) 5 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 walk, and 2 strikeouts

Next: Garcia is looking good in Blue