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At the end of the first month of MiLB ball, it has been an up and down start to the season. The Jays affiliates are currently sitting 44-49 (.473 winning percentage), which happened over the last week, when the organization was sitting at .500
Buffalo (12-10) - T-3rd in AAA East - Northeast Division - 4 GB
New Hampshire (9-14) - 3rd in AA Northeast - Northeast Division - 7 GB
Vancouver (15-9) - T-1st in High A West - 0 GB
Dunedin (8-16) - 6th in Low-A Southeast - West Division - 9 GB
Buffalo was only able to get one game in over the weekend and it was a 3-2 loss. Nick Allgeyer started Saturday’s game and took the loss. Allgeyer allowed 3 earned runs on 7 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings. All 3 runs came in the 3rd inning, on 2 HR’s. Allgeyer recorded 4 strikeouts. Connor Overton, Taylor Saucedo & Bryan Baker each had a scoreless inning of relief.
The top of the 3rd saw Buffalo’s offense take shape, as Kevin Smith singled in Nash Knight & Christian Colon for the two runs. Unfortunately, the 3 runs in the bottom of the inning was all the scoring for the game. Overall Colon had 2 singles and a double. Tyler White had a single, a double and a walk. Smith & Knight singled, while Richard Urena & Riley Adams each added a single. Going 2-13 with runners in scoring position meant the Herd was unable to get the tie.
New Hampshire was able to get a double header in on Saturday, for their only action of the weekend. In game 1, NH picked up a 6-1 victory. As noted on the site over the weekend, Zach Logue had a terrific start in game 1, allowing a solo HR among 3 hits given up. Logue walked 0 and struck out 12 hittings. It took Logue 88 pitches to get through 6 innings, with 60 of those being strikes. Logue also picked off a runner in the game.
At the plate, the Fisher Cats got 2 hits from Gabriel Moreno, including a double. Kevin Vicuna had a double and walked. Austin Martin & LJ Talley had a single and a walk. Vinny Capra singled and stole a base, while Reggie Pruitt added a single. Samad Taylor had a walk but was able to get on base 3 times and stole 2nd base 3 times.
Game 2 saw New Hampshire get beat up on, as they lost the night cap 12-0. Cre Finfrock returned from the injured list to start this one. Finfrock was able to record 1 out, but gave up 5 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks. Connor Law & Willy Gaston both struggled in relief, allowing another 7 runs. All told, New Hampshire allowed 12 earned runs on 10 hits and 7 walks.
At the plate, the Fisher Cats did not do a whole lot. Austin Marin singled and had a walk. Kevin Vicuna had a single and LJ Talley took a walk. All told, the Cats had 2 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 14 times.
Vancouver had a relatively normal weekend all told, as they played 3 full games. Friday started with a 3-0 victory. Nick Fraze started and threw 6 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits and a walk. Fraze struck out 7 and got 6 ground outs. Brandon Eister had 2 innings of relief, allowing a double and striking out 3. Justin Maese pitched the 9th to record his 2nd save of the season, giving the C’s 3 different relievers with multiple saves. Maese allowed a single and a walk, but struck out 2.
Vancouver got things rolling in their half of the 1st. Luis De Los Santos walked and stole second an out later. De Los Santos moved up to 3rd on a flyout and then proceeded to score on a balk. Spencer Horwitz walked, went to 3rd on a Ryan Gold single and then scored on a DJ Neal single to short. Gold would add a solo HR (2) in the 6th to round out the scoring. Horwitz would add a second walk and Phil Clarke & Sebastian Espino each walked once.
Saturday’s game saw Adam Kloffenstein start and get hit around early on. Kloff was unable to get out of the 2nd inning, but was charged for 6 earned in 1.2 innings on 5 hits and 3 walks. Marcus Reyes threw 3.1 innings of relief, allowing 3 earned runs on 6 hits and a walk. Cobi Johnson & Parker Caracci each had 2 scoreless innings of relief to end this one.
At the plate, Vancouver was only able to muster 3 hits and a walk, while striking out 15 times. Spencer Horwitz had a solo HR in the 2nd, his first of the year. Tanner Morris singled twice, and Sebastien Espino took a walk. Morris was able to add a stolen base, but it was a quiet night at the plate.
Sunday afternoon’s game was another pitchers duel, as each team was able to pick up 4 hits and 3 walks, but Vancouver turned their runners into a 2-1 victory. Paxton Schultz started for Vancouver and was sharp, going 6 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 8. Schultz also kept the ball on the ground getting 6 ground outs. Hagen Danner came in for the 7th inning and promptly gave up a double, threw a wild pitch and then surrendered a sac fly for the first run of the game. Danner then settled in and gave up only a walk afterward, finishing his 3 innings with 3 strike outs as well.
In the bottom of the 6th, the C’s were able to tie the game as Spencer Horwitz & Ryan Gold each walked. Luis De Los Santos beat out a double play ball, and Sebastian Espino singled to drive in Horwitz. Things stayed that way until the bottom of 9 when Horwitz doubled, moved to 3rd on a Gold ground out and then scored on a De Los Santos sac fly for the walk-off. Horwitz finished the game 2-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Espino had a double to go with the RBI single. Rafael Lantigua walked and that was the extent of the offense in this game.
Friday night saw the Dunedin bats come alive, as they were able to beat first place Tampa 14-7. The star of the game was Addison Barger, who hit for the cycle, plus an extra HR on the night. Barger went triple, double, HR, HR, and then singled in the 8th to complete his night. All told, Barger was 5-5 with 3 runs scored and 7 RBI’s. Zac Cook also reached base 5 times, with a single, a double, a walk and being hit by 2 pitches and also stole a base. Orelvis Martinez, Miguel Hiraldo & Steward Berroa each had 2 hit games. Berroa added a stolen base. Hiraldo also added a walk, while Zach Britton & Jhon Solarte each walked once.
Sem Robberse started for Dunedin, going 3 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 3 hits and a walk. Robberse did give up a 2-run HR, but was able to strike out 5. Patrick Murphy threw a quick inning of work, needed 7 pitches to get 3 ground outs. Murphy appears to be going with his fastball and curveball exclusively, with the fastball averaging 95 MPH. Juan DePaula allowed a run on 1 hit and 3 walks in 1.2 innings. Lazaro Estrada threw 3.1 innings of relief, allowing 2 unearned runs on 3 hits. Estrada struck out 8, but was not credited for a save, which seems strange.
Dunedin took on Tampa Sunday afternoon and ended up losing by a field goal, going down 13-10. Rafael Ohashi started and allowed a single run on a hit and 4 walks, while striking out 4. Gabriel Ponce, Jiorgeny Casimir & Wilgenis Alvarado each gave up crooked numbers on the day, as the D-Jays pitches combined to give up 13 hits, 6 walks and 3 hit batters. Ponce allowed 2 HR’s in his inning of work.
At the plate, Dunedin had 7 hits and 13 walks, but going 3-18 with runners in scoring position meant they could not keep pace with Tampa. Addison Barger had 2 hits, including a double, and 2 walks. Steward Berroa came on in relief of Zac Cook and added a 3-run HR in the 9th inning, his 1st of the year. Cook walked and scored twice before being removed. Orelvis Martinez had a single and a double. Zach Britton had 3 walks and was hit by a pitch. Miguel Hiraldo had a double. Ryan Sloniger & Justin Ammons both walked twice and Leo Jimenez had a single and a walk.
Buffalo went 1-3 last week against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with 2 games postponed for later in the year. The games that Buffalo played saw the pitching continue to be solid, but the offense was not able to be on track. Buffalo scored 11 runs last week, while allowing 12. Overall for the year, the Bisons Pythagorean record is 14-8 based on some solid pitching.
New Hampshire went 2-3 last week against Somerset, with Sunday’s game being cancelled due to rain. NH had 2 tight losses and was blown out in the back end of Saturday’s double header. In both cases, the Fisher Cats won game one of the DH, but lost the back end. For the year, New Hampshire has shown some offensive ability, but the pitching has struggled a bit. Currently the Cats Pythagorean record is 11-12, meaning they have underperformed to this point.
Vancouver went into the week in a 3-way tie for 1st in the league, against one of the teams they were tied with. A split of the 6-game series with Everett meant things are no different than when the week started (with the exception of Eugene sitting half a game back because they only played 5 games). To date, Vancouver has actually outperformed their Pythagorean record of 13-11, as the pitching has been solid to date. In the league, Vancouver has the second best pitching staff at this point, but only the 4th best offense.
Dunedin was 2-4 for the week against the top team in their division in Tampa. Tampa continued to hit Dunedin pitching pretty hard, as they have scored 121 runs in the first 12 games this year with Dunedin. It is hard to imagine that Dunedin could score 85 runs in the 12 games, and be sitting with a 3-9 record against Tampa, but the Tarpons have some pop in their bats.
Upcoming Week
Buffalo returns to the friendly? confines of Trenton to begin a series with one-time Jays farm club Syracuse. The Syracuse Mets (they will always be the SkyChiefs to me) are 8-16 so far on the season, with a better offense than Buffalo, but pitching that has allowed over 3 runs more per game (or double the number of runs, albeit in 4 extra games). Buffalo leads the AAA East having allowed 3.23 runs per game, more than half a run better than 2nd place.
New Hampshire welcomes the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM) to Delta Dental Stadium for a series. Binghamton is off to a rough start this year, as they currently sit in a tie for last in the AA Northeast, with a 4-19 record. Binghamton’s pitching has been about .6 runs per game worse than New Hampshire, so this will be an interesting series to watch.
This week Vancouver is going to take on the Eugene Emeralds (SF), the third team in the top group in the league. Eugene sits two spots higher on the offensive side of the ball, while sitting just one spot behind for pitching. This series will be interesting as all 3 teams are trying to keep pace.
Dunedin is getting ready to take on Bradenton for the second time this year. The Marauders (PIT) won 4 of the 6 games in week 2 and currently sit 2nd in the division, 2 games behind Tampa. Bradenton’s offense sits 2nd in the Low-A Southeast league, which is impressive considering their average age is 20.0, while the league average is 21.4 years. Bradenton has not been as strong in their pitching, allowing a 5.4 runs per game, which almost 2 full runs less than Dunedin. Both teams can hit and both teams struggle to stop runs from scoring, so it will be interesting to watch how this week shakes out.
Baby Jays Leaders
Hits - Otto Lopez (31)
wRC+ - Gabriel Moreno (200)
XBH - Addison Barger (13 - 7 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR)
SB - Cameron Eden (16)
OPS - Christian Colon (1.115)
Games Pitched - Parker Caracci; Gabriel Ponce; Kirby Snead (9)
IP - Zach Logue (27.1)
K’s - Logue (39)
WHIP - Alek Manoah (0.556)
K/9 - Adrian Hernandez (17.8)
K/BB - Tayler Saucedo (15 - 1 walk versus 15 K’s in 13.1 innings)