There’s finally some good news in the lower-minors for the Blue Jays.

For the first time in a while, all four Blue Jays affiliates were in action on Tuesday. Two teams won, while the other two teams lost.

Let’s dig into a new week of the Minor League Report!

Buffalo Bisons fall in extra innings

The Buffalo Bisons are spending six days in Indianapolis, Indiana, and lost their first game of the series by a score of 4-3 in 11 innings. It brings their record to 16-11, still good for second-best in the International League East.

This was by far Alek Manoah’s best start since 2022, as he finished with a line of 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and an insane 12 K, giving up a home run in the outing. He generated a game-high 19 whiffs and averaged 94.2 mph on the two fastballs, maxing out a tick under 96 mph. First overall pick in the 2023 draft, Paul Skenes, was opposite Manoah in what was a fantastic pitcher’s duel.

Hayden Juenger came in for relief, giving up two earned runs and three hits in his inning of work, while left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert struck out two batters and walked one in an inning. Long-man Paxton Schultz was tagged with a loss via an unearned run, while striking out three and walking a pair of batters.

In Tuesday’s Minor League Report, I stated that both Damiano Palmegiani and Nathan Lukes can turn it up at any point, and surprise, surprise, the two players were the cogs in the offence. Lukes went 4-5 with two doubles and two singles, while Palmegiani hit a game-tying three-run home run in the top of the ninth.

The other player with an extra-base hit was Brian Serven, who had a double, while Spencer Horwitz, Orelvis Martinez, and Rafael Lantigua all had singles.

New Hampshire lost late once again

A common theme for the Fisher Cats in recent weeks is close games that they’ll eventually lose late. As you can imagine, it happened again on Tuesday as two runs in the bottom of the seventh for the Somerset Patriots led to the Fisher Cats losing 3-2. This brings their record to 9-13, the worst in the Eastern League Northeast.

It was a quiet evening for the Fisher Cats’ bat, aside from Alex De Jesus, that is. The 22-year-old had three hits in four at bats, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs. He raised his wRC+ from 55 to 77. Other players with a hit were Josh Kasevich and Garrett Spain, the latter driving in the other run. It’s also worth mentioning Michael Turconi walked thrice.

On the pitching side of things, Michael Dominguez finished with a line of 5 H, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K with a home run given up, bringing his season ERA to 3.91. Solid. Abdeil Mendoza was tagged with the loss, giving up two earned runs and three walks in an inning pitched.

Eric Pardinho is a former Top 100 prospect, and he’s had a terrific start to his season with Double-A New Hampshire. On Tuesday, he struck out three batters in two innings of work, giving him a 3.12 ERA and a 2.62 FIP, along with a 28.2 K% and a 2.6 BB% in 8.2 innings pitched this season.

Vancouver stomps Tri-City

The Vancouver Canadians finally returned to action for the first time since last Wednesday, defeating the Tri-City Dust Devils 10-4. There were tons of hits and walks in this game, so let’s start with the hits.

Dasan Brown was one of four players with a multi-hit game, but he had three hits and two walks in six plate appearances, by far his best game of the season. Glenn Santiago and Jommer Hernandez also had two-hit performances, as did Ryan McCarty, who hit one of two doubles for the Canadians. The other player to hit a double was Jace Bohrofen, who also walked three times.

The only other player with a hit was Jackson Hornung, but every Canadian reached base on Tuesday. Brennan Orf and Jeffrey Wehler each walked twice, while Nick Goodwin walked once.

On top of reaching base often, the Canadians also used a ton of pitchers. Geison Urbaez started the game and finished with a line of 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K to bring his season ERA to 2.25. Grayson Thurman struck out two batters and allowed two hits in 1.1 innings pitched, while Josh Mollerus gave up two earned runs and struck out two in the same number of innings as Thurman.

Naswell Paulino has yet to give up an earned run this season, striking out a batter in his two-thirds of an inning of work. Anders Tolhurst struck out two batters in an inning of work, while Chay Yeager walked two in his inning of work, but got out of it unscathed. 

Dunedin ends the nine-game losing streak

It’s finally done, the Dunedin Blue Jays’ nine-game losing streak ended on Tuesday, as they defeated the Tampa Tarpons 2-0. After being 9-3, their record now sits at 10-12, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Canadian Connor O’Halloran had his best professional start to date, finishing with a line of 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, bringing his season ERA to 2.91. He generated 16 whiffs, 11 of which came on the slider that had a 39 whiff% in this game. The fastball averaged 89.1 mph but touched 91.5 mph (it’s okay, he’s left-handed).

The other two pitchers that appeared for the D-Jays were Keiner Leon (1.1 innings, two strikeouts, one walk) and Yonderi Rojas, who struck out two batters in a clean inning of work. The former has pitched nine innings this season and still hasn’t given up a run. He has a 27.3 K%, but a very high 24.2 BB%.

Despite the win, the bats were rather quiet on Tuesday. Edward Duran had the only multi-hit game, hitting a double and a single, while Yhoangel Aponte hit his second triple of the season. Canadian Bryce Arnold hit a single, as did Tucker Toman, who has been playing better recently.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.





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