May 25 Minor League Report/May 26 Preview

 

Jorge Saez
Jorge Saez

 

A sweep of the Oakland A’s and a six-game winning streak are two good reasons for joy in Blue Jays land! Unfortunately, there wasn’t nearly as much good news for the minor league clubs.

 

 

Buffalo Bisons 2, Louisville Bats 5

 

The big name of the day in the starting rotation was Marcus Stroman who had a rough outing against the same team that he threw six no-hit innings at the end of April. The Bats were ready for Stroman as he allowed four runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts, needing 83 pitches for just four innings. Despite not getting charged with any runs himself, reliever John Stilson came in with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and allowed two of Stroman’s three runners to score, making things look worse for his starter. Ryan Tepera finished the game with two innings and four strikeouts. Brad Glenn continues to swing a hot bat with another two hits in Buffalo.

Roster Moves: I might do a separate post on the subject a bit later today but there were a few moves. Radhames Liz was activated from the DL and sent to NH. Deck McGuire was promoted from New Hampshire, Esmil Rogers was sent to Buffalo outright, Austin Bibens-Dirkx was demoted to New Hampshire and the Blue Jays acquired White Sox’ minor league catcher Hector Gimenez and assigned him to Buffalo. Mickey Storey is back with the Bisons after re-signing a minor league deal.

 

Brad  Glenn
Brad Glenn

Player of the Game: Brad Glenn

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 1, Portland Sea Dogs 0

 

Getting a spot start from Radhames Liz and some great bullpen work from Richard Bleier, the Fisher Cats won despite only getting one run. Matt Newman had a pair of hits to lead the charge while Andy Burns went 1/3 with a double. Liz threw three innings, needing 54 pitches in his season debut after signing a minor league contract with the Jays this offseason. He only allowed two hits and one walk, striking out a pair. Bleier threw five innings in relief allowing three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. It’s even more noteworthy because he did so just two days after making his last appearance (although it was only 2/3 of an inning).

Roster Moves: Deck McGuire to Triple-A, Austin Bibens-Dirkx and Radhames Liz from Buffalo to New Hampshire and there is a report that closer Arik Sikula (who has been incredible this season) is moving up to New Hampshire from Dunedin.

Player of the Game: Richard Bleier

 

Dunedin Blue Jays 0, Lakeland Flying Tigers 6

 

The D-Jays had very little to cheer about, getting throroughly dominated by the Flying Tigers. Jesse Hernandez allowed all six runs (five earned) in just 4 1/3 innings on 13 hits but was relieved by Kamakani Usui who threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout and Danny Barnes who added two more scoreless innings with four strikeouts to finish the game. Dwight Smith, Jr. and Marcus Knecht had the club’s only two hits.

 

Danny  Barnes
Danny Barnes

Player of the Game: Kamakani Usui and Danny Barnes

 

Lansing Lugnuts 6, South Bend Silver Hawks 7

 

The Lugnuts gave it a good shot, scoring three runs in the seventh to take a lead but the Silver Hawks got two runs back against Yeyfry Del Rosario to take the lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. Jeremy Gabryszwski was charged for five of the runs on nine hits in his five innings. It was the bottom of the order that was the most productive for the Lugnuts with Jorge Saez, Jason Lebelbijian and Dickie Joe Thon all going 2/3. Saez walked once and scored three times while Thon took a walk, scored and drove a run in. D.J. Davis was 1/5 with a run but struck out four times.

Player of the Game: Jorge Saez

 

 

May 26 Preview

 

Buffalo Bisons (25-21)

 

The Bisons head to Indianapolis right after the Indy 500 to face the 29-20 Indians. Ricky Romero takes the hill against Adam Wilk and will look to improve on his 2 2/3 inning, nine-walk performance his last time out. 6:05 PM start on MiLB TV.

UPDATE: Deck McGuire has tweeted that he’s starting today.

 

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (17-32)

 

The Fisher Cats host the Portland Sea Dogs one more time on Memorial Day and hopefully it won’t hurt too much. The 33-16 Sea Dogs are one of the top teams in the Eastern League and send Keith Couch to the mound. Couch has thrown 52 2/3 innings with a 2.39 ERA, 11 walks and 40 strikeouts. Scott Copeland (3-4, 4.44 ERA) goes for the Fisher Cats at 1:35 PM ET.

 

Lansing Lugnuts (24-25)

 

The Lugnuts also have an afternoon game, at 2:05 ET, against the South Bend Silver Hawks. Chase De Jong, the featured prospect on Baseball Central yesterday faces the Blue Jays who could have been, Braden Shipley, who was one of the top pitchers available in last year’s draft when the Jays selected Phil Bickford with the 10th overall pick. De Jong has been solid all season since his first couple of bumps in the road. He’s given up at least two runs in his last three starts and we’d like to see that number come down a bit. Shipley, 22, has a 3.86 ERA and a strong 3.60 K/BB ratio in 39 2/3 innings so far this year.

 

Who are these players? Find out in The 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook, now available as an ebook at Smashwords.com for $7.99 US. It’s coming soon to Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo and other fine retailers. You can purchase and preview the book at our Smashwords.com page! If you like us here,“like” us on Facebook!

 

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