Yippee, my turn to write about the disaster that is the Toronto Blue Jays this season. Unlike the big club, tonight was not all doom and gloom as a recovering prospect pitched tonight and pitched mighty well. Buffalo rallied in the ninth for four runs and a come from behind win, however, there was not much hitting after that as New Hampshire was no-hit, Lansing was shutout, and Vancouver and Bluefield scored one run apiece. The affiliates were 3-4 tonight.
Columbus 6 Buffalo 7
With George Bell reportedly on hand, Moises Sierra pulled a George Bell. 0-4 on the day with four strikeouts, Moises Sierra strode to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the tying and winning runs on base. Sierra promptly doubles off the base of the wall in left scoring Anthony Gose and Munenori Kawasaki for the win and capping a four run ninth. Kevin Pillar had two hits—a double and a triple to go along with two RBIs. Jim Negrych has gone on the DL with an Achilles injury and Anthony Gose continues to scuffle.
Altoona 5 New Hampshire 0
New Hampshire suffered something tonight many Blue Jays’ affiliates have suffered this year. They were no-hit. Yes, when the post game write up points to someone’s strong BB record as the only good piece of news emanating from the contest, you know you’re in trouble. Sean Nolin got the start and was hit around a bit. He went five, allowed eight hits and four runs. He also allowed a first inning solo homerun, walked three, and struck out five. Nolin’s bugaboo inning was the fourth where he allowed three runs. It’s something I think he’s going to have to work on to be a quality Major League starter—the lack of put away pitch means Nolin is more susceptible to the big inning. In this inning, two of three runs were scored on a two out single.
Jupiter 1 Dunedin 7
The bats came alive tonight for Dunedin, but the real star was Drew Hutchison. Hutchison, making just his third start since Tommy John surgery, pitched four innings of one hit ball. He struck out eight and walked one. Somewhere in the depths of Rogers Centre Alex Anthopoulos and Co. are asking themselves if it’s too soon to promote him to the big club, or wondering whether first base is a better position to mitigate risk of re-injury. At the plate K.C. Hobson did most of the heavy lifting with two doubles and four RBIs. Shane Optiz had three hits and Jon Berti is quietly putting together a nice season. He stole his 44th base tonight and had a hit in four trips.
Dayton 8 Lansing 0
Lansing were shutout on the back of another fairly miserable Daniel Norris outing. In three and a third Norris allowed six earned runs. I’m personally getting pretty tired of reports that say “in person he looks a lot better than his stat line.” His stat lines are consistently poor and for the money we dolled out to him we shouldn’t be consistently falling back on that. Recent draftees Chad Girodo and Matt Boyd combined to pitch three scoreless innings. At the plate Dwight Smith Jr. and Emilio Guerrero had two hits. Santiago Nessy also continues his adventures behind the plate with a passed ball and catcher’s interference. Dalton Pompey apparently made a spectacular catch in the seventh inning.
Vancouver 1 Spokane 2
Only five hits on the night for the Canadians—starting to see the theme here? Michael Reeves had two hits and the lone RBI. On the mound, Eric Brown went five solid, but ultimately a Michael Reeves first inning throwing error proved the difference in this contest.
Bluefield 1 Danville 2
Two solid outings from two up and coming prospects on the mound down in Danville, Virginia. Chase DeJong and Shane Dawson both pitched four innings and both yielded a solitary run. DeJong allowed two hits and struck out four, and Dawson allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out three. The Bluefield offense, which has been strong this year, floundered this fine evening mustering just two hits. Dawel Lugo had one of those hits—a double, and also had the lone Bluefield RBI.
GCL Blue Jays GCL Phillies
Rained out.
DSL Blue Jays 9 DSL Tigers 6
Javier Hernandez had four hits, and Richard Urena walked twice and stole a base as the DSL affiliate topped the Tigers affiliate. Daniel Rodriguez went six innings and allowed three runs, two of which were earned and the DSL squad got hits from eight of nine batsmen.
Three Stars
3. Moises Sierra
2. Chase DeJong and Shane Dawson
1. Drew Hutchison
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20130726024807127