It was a rough Monday night for the affiliates as they went 0-for-5 with one game suspended due to rain. Las Vegas and the boys in the Dominican had the day off.
Vancouver Canadians manager
Clayton McCullough gets ejected for arguing a blown strike three call and a balk that led to Everett tying the game in the seventh inning at Nat Bailey Stadium Monday night.
The affiliates combined for a losing record on Sunday but there were come notable hitting and pitching performances from the likes of Noah Syndergaard, Christian Lopes, and Chris Hawkins.
Five wins in nine tries for the affiliates were highlighted by two dominant (and encouraging) starts.
In a night lacking any other common theme, I'm going to go with the tenuous thread which ties together the debut of Jake Marisnick and Jon Berti with their new teams, with a nod towards Koby Clemens' big night at his new position.
There were five wins on the farm yesterday with the losses coming at the ends, in Las Vegas and in the Gulf Coast League. However, the one star earned by a pitcher came in one of those two losses. New Hampshire won a walk-off game despite allowing two runs in the top of the 11th and Lansing had a big bottom of the eighth inning for a late come-from-behind victory.
The affiliates were 6-1 Tuesday night with the only blemishes being a rainout and a come from ahead loss.
The shortstops at the top two levels in the Blue Jays system had good nights with their bats but only one of them enjoyed a victory on Monday. Two affiliates blew huge leads, two lost in extra innings and there were two blowouts. Another game boiled down to a play at the plate in a 2-6 Monday on the farm.
The right-hander prospect lowered his ERA to 0.63 in 16 appearances and showed improved control in his start against Arizona's A-ball squad.
Victories were posted in the states of Nevada and Florida in a 3-4 night for the affiliates that included a rainout north of the border.
Dunedin used the long ball five times to overcome a seven-run deficit on the road in a game that boiled down to the last play. Las Vegas and Vancouver got six shutout innings from their starters to earn victories and Bluefield had a nice game with the bats. New Hampshire saw a game get away from them in the late innings, Lansing was totally outclassed and the GCL boys lost despite the best efforts of a first round pick.
On a typically unspectacular Thursday on the farm, the teams combined to record as many runs as the allowed which reflected fairly well on the hitters (averaging six runs a game) and not so much on the pitchers.
The losers in half of the eight games on the farm yesterday scored three runs. There weren’t many interesting performances, but read on anyway.
The state of the Jays pitching staff is so precarious that when a pitcher does well in AAA or AA you think they might get called up. Shawn Hill and John Silson both pitched well yesterday and both teams won. Aaron Sanchez, Tom Robson and Kevin Comer also pitched well. Dunedin scored in double figures to win while Vancouver were "beat up good".
Offensively Moises Sierra had a big night as did Eric Thames. Kevin Nolan hit a grand slam and had 5 RBI. Kevin Howard hit a game winning, extra innings, home run.
The highlights were victories by Lansing and Bluefield. The lowlights were a couple of one-run losses by the same score, a doubleheader sweep, two extra innings losses and an 11-run beatdown in a 2-6 Monday for the affiliates.
The affiliates were 3-2 on Sunday and featured a couple of nice pitching performances in the low minors.
