Pitchers get a lot of recognition in these reports, pitching and defense are half of the game.  On Tuesday Chad Jenkins and Asher Wojciechowski pitched well to lead their teams to victory.  Aaron Sanchez pitched well, Justin Nicolino was OK, but the bullpen lost the Lugnuts game in the ninth.  The Las Vegas pitching staff had pitched well during their road trip but once they came back to the sin city, their ERA's have balloooned.  Scott Richmond was yesterdays victim.

Offensively, Jake Marisnick and Mike McDade hit their first home runs of the season.  Anthony Gose and AJ Jimenez had two run triples as part of a two hit day.  Jon Talley stayed hot with three more hits.

Lansing and Dunedin got the pitching and the wins Monday night.  As for Las Vegas, never mind!

Las Vegas were the only winners, and that's unusual this season.  New Hampshire were rained out while the high flyers, Dunedin and Lansing lost.  Jesse Chavez pitched well for Las Vegas and David Rollins pitched well in a losing cause for Lansing.  I have added some notes to the team reports to add some meat to a light reporting day on the farm.

Three wins in four tries for the affiliates as Travis Snider continued to mash and Noah Syndergaard struggled.

Only Dunedin (12-2), who lead their North division in the Florida State League were on the win side of things Friday night, continuing what has become a 5 game win streak.  The other leader in the Jays farm system is Lansing who lost Friday, but remain on top of the Eastern division of the Midwest League with a 12-3 record.  New Hampshire went down Friday morning, sinking to a 6-9 record and now sit third in the Eastern division of the Eastern League.  Las Vegas lost, settling into third place of the PCL Pacific South division with a record of 4-12. 

Notably, the long ball lumber was largely silent Friday, with Jonathan Diaz of New Hampshire hitting the only round tripper on the farm, a 2 run blast.  He was due. His last homer was in August of last year.

One ill concieved click of the mouse and an hour and a half's work disappears into the either. so what was a creative and winsome minor league update is now gone, replaced by a cold blunt businesslike recounting of facts. More's the pity.

Las Vegas lost their bats at crucial points in last night’s game. Dunedin suffered a slow loss as their opponents chipped away and came back to win. Meanwhile, Deck McGuire shook off a couple of sub-par starts and turned in a fine performance for New Hampshire.

The teams with winning records won, and the teams with losing records lost.  Lansing got more great pitching and recorded another shutout.  Dave Rollins got the start for the Lugnuts.  There were many suggested names for that starting spot in Lansing and the selection of Rollins was a bit of a surprise, but the Jays staff know what they are doing.  Dunedin had to score eight runs to win as Sean Nolin had an off night.

Chad Jenkins had another bad start and his name, along with Deck McGuire's, has dispappeared from the list for fifth starter in Toronto.  New Hampshire were in a deep hole early from which they had little hope of escaping.  Las Vegas have had some tough losses this season and yesterdays was another one to add to the list.  They tied their game in the top of the ninth and then brought on their best reliever so far this season, Ryoto Igarashi, to hold the lead.  He couldn't and the 51's lost again.

The pitching gave the affiliates a chance to win all four games Monday.  It was a 2-2 night on the farm with the losses coming from a doubleheader sweep.

The Jays affiliates combined for a 2-1 record on the night, while one club got the night off thanks to Mother Nature.

Just one win on the farm but each game featured some last-inning dramatics, both good and bad.

Las Vegas came to town and brought their lumber with them, humiliating the crew from Colorado.   The Fisher Cats put up just a meow against the Rock Cats.  Dunedin did their thing besting Brevard and Lansing’s Lugnuts lost to West Michigan.  All in all, the Blue Jay farm boys out hit opponents 43 to 33.

(Too big a stretch?)

The Blue Jays minor-league squads were 2-2 on the night. As you might guess, in places where the pitching was right good things happened, in other places not so much. Since there's now one full week of the season in the books (okay, 8 days, humor me) , along with tonight's game updates I'll be highlighting those hot and cold starts worthy of comment.

It was a 3-for-4 night for the affiliates, as New Hampshire’s bats were relatively quiet while those in Las Vegas exploded. Perhaps that’s not a huge surprise. However, given all the young hitting talent at Triple-A, it may surprise you to see who was leading the offensive attack.

The lower three teams won while what happens in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas.   The undefeated Lansing Lugnuts continued to roll behind unheralded starter and Michigan native Jesse Hernandez who pitched seven shutout innings.  Andrew Burns hit his first home run to get the scoring going.  Dunedin also won again to run their record to 4-1 behind Casey Lawrence.  New Hampshire won 3-2 with Drew Hutchison pitching six shutout innings but it wasn't Hutch's best start.  Brad Glenn homered and scored twice to lead the offense.  Las vegas were bad, the bright spot was Adeny Hechavarria who had three hits, including a based loaded triple.