A ninth-inning collapse spoiled a perfect Tuesday night on the farm for the #BlueJays affiliates. The three winning clubs combined to score 29 runs.
Columbus 7 Buffalo 5
Sean Reid-Foley was a bullpen collapse away from his first Triple-A victory. After getting torched in his first outing with the Herd, it looked like he was going to be in for another rough night after surrendering three runs on the first on a single, a walk, a double and a triple. He would settle down after that as he retired eight in a row and 10 of his last 11 hitters to turn in a quality start. He struck out 10 and gave up 10 hits. Murphy Smith put up two more zeros but Al Alburquerque blew the save by giving up a tying home run to the only batter he faced to start the ninth. Sam Moll was mauled over for three more runs to take the loss.
Lourdes Gourriel Jr. hit a two-run homer and had a two-hit game. Jason Leblebijian and Anthony Alford were the on-base leaders with Leb-leb getting two knocks and a walk while AA singled with two bases on balls. Alford also stole a base. Dalton Pompey was 1-for-3 with a stolen base before giving way to Ian Parmley late in the game. Roemon Fields was 0-for-3 but drove home a pair of runs, one by sacrifice fly. Rowdy Tellez and Reese McGuire singled and Danny Jansen walked but Richard Urena went 0-for-5.
Also of note, both managers got tossed as Herd skipper Bobby Meacham and his Columbus counterpart were sent to the showers in the seventh.
New Hampshire 11 Portland 2
At least the Jays hammered the BoSox affiliate here thanks to 11 unanswered runs. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had just one hit but it was a big one as he socked his 11th homer of the season. That accounted for two of his three RBI. Bo Bichette, Gunnar Heidt, Max Pentecost, Juan Kelly, Harold Ramirez and Andrew Guillotte finished in a six-way atop the hit leaderboard with two. Guillotte had a triple and a double while Pentecost and Kelly had one extra-base knock. Cavan Biggio and Jonathan Davis also had base hits with Davis drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch. Only the rehabbing Aledmys Diaz was hitless by going 0-for-3 before being replaced by Heidt. Bichette had two stolen bases and is 14-fot-18 in that department. He also took one for the team.
Josh DeGraaf overcame a two-run first that included a home run to deliver 5-2/3 solid innings of five-hit ball without walking a batter. He struck out eight and had six groundball outs for get the win. Jose Fernandez matched two walks with two K's over 1-1/3 innings and stranded a runner. Dusty Isaacs finished up by getting the final six outs, one by strikeout, while giving up just one hit.
Dunedin 8 Florida 2
All nine Dunedin hitters made a dent in the hit column and eight of them drew a walk. They had 10 hits and 11 walks in all to cool off the Fire Frogs. Eduard Pinto had the lone multi-hit game while drawing a walk and stealing a base. Nash Knight reached base four times thanks to three walks. Kevin Smith drew two walks to get aboard three times in his Dunedin debut. Riley Adams also reached thrice as he took one for the team not once but twice. I hope the two pitchers involved profusely apologized to Adams as he does have a black belt in karate.
Zach Logue was one out away from the win in his Dunedin debut but had to settle for 4-2/3 innings of four-hit ball in which he allowed an unearned run. He walked three, struck out four and induced seven groundball outs. Connor Eller got the win with 1-1/3 perfect innings that included a punchout. Jackson McClelland walked two over a scoreless inning-plus. Ty Tice stranded two runners and pitched two inning of one-run ball on a hit and a walk. He struck out three to record the save.
Lansing 10 Lake County 1
Every Lugnut hitter reached base by a hit or a walk to otherthrow the Captains. Chavez Young had three hits, a walk, a run driven in and a stolen base at the top of the order. The two and three hitters Kevin Vicuna and Cullen Large had two hits apiece with Vicuna getting a double and an RBI. Brandon Grudzielanek tripled while Ryan Noda and Andres Sotillo doubled. Noda walked while Sotillo knocked home two.
Maverik Buffo ran his record to 7-1 by scattering eight hits and a walk over seven innings of one-run ball, the one run coming on a home run. He struck out two to go along with eight outs on the diamond. Andy Ravel overcame two hits in a scoreless eighth. Dany Jimenez struck out the side in the ninth.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Chavez Young, Lansing
2. Bo Bichette, New Hampshire
1. Sean Reid-Foley, Buffalo
Extra Innings...
- New Hampshire manager John Schneider won't forget this ceremonial first pitch anytime soon.
- The Toronto Sun has a story on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- WILX-TV has a feature on a host family in Lansing that has housed Lugnuts players for nearly 20 years.
- C's Plus Baseball has a chat with Travis Bergen and an interview with pitcher Colton Laws.
