Blue Jays MiLB Recap – The Lugnuts continue to rake

Jays Journal takes its daily look into the Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system. The Lugnuts continue to destroy Midwest League pitchers as they win by double digits for the 4th time this week. Josh Donaldson begins his rehab assignment with Dunedin.

Buffalo Bisons vs Pawtucket Red Sox
3-6 Loss

The Herd was unable to get to Paw Sox pitcher Jalen Beeks for a big inning. Beeks marched through the Bisons lineup and racked up the strikeouts through his 5.2 innings of work. He allowed just two Bisons runs, while striking out eleven. The Bisons finally started to figure him out in the 6th and scored two runs on a string of singles to knock him out of the game. Danny Jansen drove in the first run on one of those singles, and then a passed ball drove in the 2nd. The 3rd and final Bisons run would score on a bases loaded walk to Dalton Pompey.

On the mound, Joe Biagini was excellent for the first five innings. He allowed just one run until an offensive breakout by the Paw Sox in the 6th. Biagini would only record an out in the inning before being chased. The inning would give the Paw Sox four more runs and seal the win. Biagini’s final line had 5.1 innings and five earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. Tim Mayza would stop the bleeding and threw 1.2 innings. All five of the outs he recorded came on strikeouts. Jake Petricka would pitch the final two frames and allowed a tag on run for the Sox in the 9th.

Deck McGuire will take the mound against the Paw Sox Sunday. He will be looking to build off of a four inning performance in his last start when he allowed just one run and two hits.

MVB – Tim Mayza 1.2 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 0 Walks, 5 K’s

New Hampshire Fisher Cats vs Trenton Thunder (Yankees)
6-10 Loss

The dynamic duo of Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. continues to fuel a potent offense for the Fisher Cats. Bo Bichette scored twice while going 1-4 with a double. His batting average for the season has been hanging around the .300 mark as he continues to settle into the Eastern League. Vlad has been on fire out of the gate and added to his league leading RBI total again Saturday evening. He picked up two more RBIs while going 3-4 with his 8th double on the season. He now has 25 runs batted in this season in 19 games. Connor Panas also picked up a pair of RBIs on a double and Cavan Biggio continues to be productive with another RBI on a sac fly.

Jon Harris received the start and really struggled after the first two innings in this one. Things started to go downhill in the 3rd inning when he allowed a pair of runs which included a solo home to Vincente Conde. In the 4th everything came apart in what became a seven run inning for the Thunder. After an incredible start to his 2018 season, Harris hit a bump and only recorded one out in the 4th inning. His final line showed 3.1 innings allowing eight hits, eight runs, two walks, and a pair of strikeouts. The bullpen failed to calm the Thunder’s bats as Jose Fernandez and Dusty Issacs each allowed a run. Danny Young threw two scoreless innings and Andrew Case added a shutout 9th in the loss.

Francisco Rios will look to bounce back from a horrendous outing in his previous start. He allowed six earned runs while recording just one out against the Binghampton Rumble Ponies. He will face the Thunder Sunday.

More from Jays Journal

• Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. open to a long-term contract
• Blue Jays: Snapping cold streaks at the right time
• Who Should the Blue Jays Extend First: Guerrero, Bichette or Manoah?
• Blue Jays now hold the top Wild Card spot, and yes that’s a good thing
• Blue Jays may have the tools to use a Bullpen Day

MVFC – Vlad Guerrero Jr. 3-4 with a double, a run scored, and 2 RBI

Dunedin Blue Jays vs Clearwater Threshers (Phillies)
1-2 Loss

A pitchers duel ensued on Saturday in Dunedin as Justin Dillon went toe to toe with Threshers starter Sixto Sanchez. Neither pitcher gave up any ground in this one until the 5th when the Threshers scraped together a run off of Dillon. A few errors and a single eventually led to a groundout RBI for the Threshers in the inning. The unearned run closed the book on Dillon who gave way to Juliandry Higuera. Higuera allowed a run in his first inning of work to give this Threshers a two run lead. The run came off the bat of Austin Listi who popped a solo home run. Higuera would pitch three innings allowing just the one run.

The offense was unable to solve Sixto Sanchez and was able to score just the one run. Even with Josh Donaldson in the Lineup at DH they were unable to get anything going. Donaldson would go 0-3 in his first rehab start. The only run came in the 7th when the D-Jays led off the inning with a pair of singles. They would score the only run on an Eduard Pinto sac fly. Alberto Mineo would collect two of the D-Jays five hits on a day with little offense.

The D-Jays have not announced a pitcher for Sunday’s game against the Threshers.

MVDJ – Justin Dillon 5 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 1 walk, 4 K’s

Lansing Lugnuts at West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers)
13-5 Win

The Lansing Lugnuts offense continues to be a juggernaut in the Midwest League. This assembly of power hitting prowess has scored double digits four times in the past week as they now sport a 15-7 record. Every hitter in the lineup reached base in this one and all but Samad Taylor scored a run. Leading the charge once again was Kacy Clemens who is putting everyone on notice thus far in 2018. He mashed two home runs during the 13-5 victory. He now has four on the season and has 18 RBIs after the 2-5 performance. Kevin Smith went 3-5 in this one while scoring a run and driving in one. Three other Lugnuts hitters had multi-hit games as Chavez Young, Kevin Vicuna, and Ryan Noda each had a pair of hits and two runs scored. Brock Lundquist had three RBI’s as well on a home run that really got the offense started.

Maximo Castillo repped all of the benefits from the offense pouring on the runs. He settled in and allowed just two runs over five innings of work. He was able to scatter six hits while walking just one batter and striking out five. Matt Shannon pitched a pair of innings to follow and he did not allow a run. Kyle Weatherly allowed three earned runs in the final two innings of the game but this was not enough for the Whitecaps to get into this one.

Yennsy Diaz will look to continue his dominance on Sunday against the Whitecaps. He has thrown 22.2 innings thus far in 2018 and allowed just four hits while striking out 24. Midwest League hitters beware Diaz has figured this pitching thing out.

MVL – Kacy Clemens 2-5 with a pair of home runs and 3 RBI

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