Casey Lawrence got a two-inning tuneup before his expected call up back to Toronto. He gave up a solo dinger to Pedro Alvarez but struck out three and got two groundball outs. Bisons manager Bobby Meacham praised Lawrence for keeping the ball down and using both sides of the plate. Lawrence threw 19 of his 25 pitches for strikes, lowering his Bisons ERA to 1.80.Dwight Smith Jr. pushed his batting average to .289 with a home run, a single and two runs batted in. Jason Leblebijian was hit by a pitch, stole a base and scored a run. Leblebijian made an error at third but he also made a nice diving play at the hot corner and was helped out by a Rowdy Tellez scoop at first to retire former Dodger Alex Castellanos in the fifth. Tellez went 0-for-4 and he is batting just .184 on the season.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Sean Reid-Foley tossed three shutout innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts and five groundouts but he also walked three, giving him six walks in 6-1/3 innings so far.
Tim Lopes drove in the Fisher Cats only run, extending his hitting streak to five, going 8-for-23 with five runs batted in. Christian's younger brother is now hitting .279 and he might join his sibling in Buffalo if he continues to perform. Richard Urena is only hitting .211 with just one extra-base hit. Anthony Alford had two more hits and a stolen base and he is now hitting .514.
Dunedin Blue Jays
Max Pentecost donned the tools of ignorance for the first time this season. He was 1-for-4 in throwing out basestealers before giving way to Danny Jansen in the sixth inning. Plagued by shoulder injuries shortly after being taken with the 11th pick of the 2014 draft, the Jays plan to take it easy with Pentecost behind the dish. At the dish Tuesday, he singled in three at-bats and scored a run but is hitting just .222 this season. Derrick Loveless had a four-hit night with two doubles and two stolen bases. The 24 year-old from Iowa wants to say goodbye to the Florida State League as he has spent parts of the last three seasons there and take another crack at Double-A, where he hit just .207 last season.
Justin Shafer has a scoreless stretch of 9-1/3 innings to start the season after pitching 1-1/3 shutout frames Tuesday. He has a strikeout-walk total of 13-2.
Lansing Lugnuts
Bo Bichette is on a seven-game hitting streak, going 2-for-3 with a walk Tuesday to boost his batting average to .419. The son of Dante has three doubles and a home run to give him an OPS of 1.139 and he has drawn six walks to help offset five strikeouts. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a hit and is now batting .282, walking nine times against seven whiffs. Shortstop Yeltsin Gudino remains ice-cold with the bat as an 0-for-11 skid has sunk his average to .103. He has drawn three walks to help his OBP out a little at .235. He has split time at second and short with Bichette in 2017 after spending all of 2016 at the six spot in Vancouver.
Justin Maese is having trouble keeping the ball on the ground and limiting free passes. He has a groundout/airout ratio of 1.47, which is down from his career rate of 2.39. He has walked eight batters already this season against just 11 K's in just 15-2/3 innings. That's in stark contrast to walking just 15 batters over 15 starts with Vancouver and Lansing last season. Geno Encina still has a 0.00 ERA over 9-2/3 innings to begin the year but has been victimized by four unearned runs. The Univeristy of Incarnate Word product does have a 11-3 K/BB ratio.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Anthony Alford, New Hampshire
2. Dwight Smith Jr., Buffalo
1. Derrick Loveless, New Hampshire
Tuesday's Linescores
Wednesday's Games/Probable Starters
Norfolk @ Buffalo, 6:05 pm ET - Jarrett Grube (1-0, 2.45)
Dunedin @ St. Lucie, 6:30 pm ET - Angel Perdomo (0-1, 5.59)
New Hampshire @ Trenton, 7:00 pm ET - Conner Greene (0-1, 4.82)
Lansing @ Dayton, 7:00 pm ET - Patrick Murphy (1-0, 4.91)
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