Baby Jays Recap - Jordan Groshans was back in the lineup

The Baby Jays had a rough day, picking up 2 wins in 6 finals. In the second games of the two double headers, the two teams picked up a total of 3 hits, which makes it difficult to win games. Nate Pearson was back on the mound, Jordan Groshans was back in the lineup and Vancouver found a way to walk off a win.

Buffalo (12-9) - Loss 4-2 & Loss 3-2 to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Buffalo started the day by completing Wednesday nights suspended game, and one bad inning was the difference in this one. Nate Pearson took the ball, starting with the top of the 4th inning. Pearson had 2 good innings and 1 poor inning. The 4th went K, K, BB, K, with 2 of the strikeouts being looking. The 6th inning went K, K, 1B, GO. Unfortunately the 5th inning came in between which saw Nate get hit hard, giving up 2 doubles, a HR, a walk and a hit batter. That led to 4 earned runs. Pearson showed the good (7 K’s in 3 innings), the bad (2 doubles & a HR) and the ugly (2 walks, 2 hit batters and a wild pitch) in this one.

At the plate, Buffalo only managed a Riley Adams single in the 6 innings played on Thursday after starting with a 2-0 lead.

Game 2 saw Buffalo get out to a quick lead on a Christian Colon HR (his 5th), but Socrates Brito hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the first off Casey Lawrence, and that was the difference in the game. Lawrence started the game BB, K, 2B, HR and then seemed to settle in. His final line showed 3 earned on 3 hits in 3 innings. Lawrence walked 1 and struck out 6. At the plate, Buffalo managed only the Colon HR and 5 walks. 4 of the walks came in the 4th inning back-to-back as Tyler White walked Breyvic Valera, but two fly outs to Socrates Brito ended the threat.

New Hampshire (8-13) - Win 10-8 in 11 innings & 2-1 Loss against Somerset

Game 1 of Thursday’s double header was a wild game. New Hampshire jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 2 batters, with a Austin Martin lead off walk and a Jordan Groshans 2-run HR, his 1st of the year. Maximo Castillo followed and gave up 4 first inning runs, all after getting 2 outs. The inning went GO, GO, BB, HR, BB, 3B, BB, 1B and Castillo’s day was done. That is how the game stayed until the top of 7 when the Cats got a single from Groshans, a double from Otto Lopez and then a double from LJ Talley to score two. The 8th inning saw no runs with the extra runner, as Curtis Taylor walked the bases loaded for the Cats, and then was able to get a pop out and 2 strike outs.

The top of 9 saw NH score 3 runs on a Lopez single, scoring the extra runner, a Gabe Moreno triple and an LJ Talley sac fly. In the bottom half, Curtis Taylor served up back-to-back HR’s to allow Somerset to tie the game. New Hampshire scored one in the 10th on a Vinny Capra sac fly. James Dykstra came in to close the game, struck out the first 2 batters and then left with an arm injury. Jon Harris came in and allowed the tying run on a 1st & 3rd double steal. In the top of 11, the Cats scored 2 runs on 2 walks, a hit batter and a sac fly. In the bottom, Harris walked the first batter and then struck out 2 and got a fly out to end game 1.

Game 2 saw Troy Miller making his AA debut as he went 5 shutout innings. Miller allowed 3 hits, 3 walks and struck out 3. Brody Rodning pitched the 6th inning and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits, a walk and 3 wild pitches. At the plate, New Hampshire didn’t generate much, as they picked up 2 hits and 2 walks. The Cats run came in the 4th on an Austin Martin double and a wild pitch, followed by an Otto Lopez sac fly. Unfortunately Lopez saw his 16-game hit streak come to an end as he went 0-2. Lopez can still take pride in the fact he has a hit every day he’s played in 2021, as both his games without a hit were part of doubleheaders.

For the day Groshans had 2 hits, but didn’t play in game 2. Lopez had a single and a double. Moreno had 2 singles and a triple. Austin Martin went 1-8 with a walk and 4 K’s

Vancouver (13-8) - Win 5-4 over Everett

Vancouver got out to a quick lead in this one, saw the lead evaporate and then walk it off in the bottom of 9. The C’s were able to take advantage of 11 walks from Everett pitching, adding 6 hits. Vancouver got 2 runs in the first without a hit, after 4 walks a wild pitch and a sac fly from Luis De Los Santos. In the 9th a walk, a sac bunt, another walk and a single led to the winning run scoring. Tanner Kirwer had a single and 3 walks, scoring 3 runs. DJ Neal had a single and a double. Spencer Horwitz & Cameron Eden both had a single and 2 walks. Tanner Morris had a single and a walk.

Luis Quinones made his 2021 debut and pitched 5 innings, allowing an unearend run on 1 hit and 2 walks. Quinones struck out 5 on the night. The run came in the 4th as Julio Rodriguez hit an infield single, moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, stole third and scored when 3B Ronny Brito couldn’t come up with ball and was credited with an error. Sam Ryan gave up 3 runs (1 earned) in 2 innings on 3 hits and 2 walks. Hagen Danner pitched the final 2 innings, and gave up 2 walks and struck out 2 to earn his first win as a pitcher. Ryan Gold had a rough night behind the plate with a throwing error on top of the ball getting away on the first Everett run and was only 1-5 in catching runners stealing.

Dunedin (7-15) - Loss 10-7 to Tampa

Dunedin & Tampa played a game where offensively their lines seemed quite similar. Tampa had 8 hits and 7 walks, with a double & 2 HR’s. Dunedin had 9 hits and 8 walks, with 3 doubles and a HR. Every D-Jay reached base, with only Jhon Solarte not getting a hit. Miguel Hiraldo had his 2nd HR of the year and added 2 walks. Addison Barger had 2 doubles. Zac Cook had a double and a walk. Orelvis Martinez had a hit and 2 walks. Zach Britton and Steward Berroa each had a hit and a walk.

On the mound, Nick Frasso got his second start of the year, allowing an unearned run on 1 hit and a walk. Frasso struck out 4 as well. Jefferson Herrera made his debut, as a 2019 J2 signee. It didn’t go well as he gave up 3 runs on 2 hits (including a HR), 3 walks and a hit batter. Wilgenis Alvarado gave up 4 runs in 2 innings on 1 hit, 2 walks and 2 hit batters. Gabriel Ponce pitched 2 shutout innings on 1 hit, 1 walk, a hit batter and 5 strike outs. Roither Hernandez gave up 2 runs in 2 innings, as he allowed 3 hits, including a HR in the 9th. Hernandez also hit a batter. If you are keeping score at home, the D-Jays hit 5 batters in this one, including poor Austin Wells, the Tampa DH for the day, who was hit 3 times by 3 different pitchers.

Today’s Probables

Buffalo - Nick Allgeyer takes the ball tonight, aiming to get back on track after two rough appearances since returning from his short stint with the Jays. First pitch is 6:35

New Hampshire - Zach Logue starts, game starts at 7:05

Vancouver - Nick Fraze looks to continue his strong start to the season as Vancouver looks to even up their series with Everett at 10:05

Dunedin - Continue their series with Tampa, no starter has been named at this point. Game starts at 6:30