This would be a better headline at another time of the year, as right now it immediately conjure up images of a fortnight-long losing streak and Brendan Ryan’s facial hair. Aside from the GCL Blue Jays, the affiliates scored 15 runs over 6 games, doing their best impersonation of the Seattle Mariners offence. Although that’s 2.5 runs per games, keep in mind that includes a game in the friendly confines of Las Vegas. While there wasn’t much to write home about offensively, the night feature several fine pitching performances.
The Farm Cubs were undefeated on the evening and 4 of the 7
games were decided by 2 runs or less.
Notably the Farm Club Pitching staffs were brilliant overall, striking
out a total of 69 in the 7 games played Friday (average: 9.5 Ks per game)
The affiliates were 1-0 in the Dominican Thursday but were 2-5 in the U.S. featuring two blowout losses and two of the come from ahead variety. A couple of starting pitchers threw five shutout innings but only one of them got a victory. Find out how in today's edition of the MLU.
The affiliates did well on a night that featured a ton of doubles for a couple of the teams.
As for the U.S. based affiliates, the news wasn't nearly as good. How about an adjective for each loss on the farm? How about nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea?
The top two stars on the night had very similar pitching lines as the farm went 4-4.
One at-bat, one hit-by-pitch for the Jays third base prospect, who then left the game but is reportedly OK.
The affiliates only lost three games last night. Two were in the lowest levels of the minors, which included an extra-inning game, while the other was a one-run game in Double-A. Former Blue Jays Robert Ray and Jayson Nix helped Las Vegas to victory, while Justin Nicolino and Nestor Molina had strong, albeit short, outings.
Brett Lawrie fielded cleanly on four plays with
Dunedin. He was solid in the field and
put the bat on the ball. Jessie Litsch
put on the dog, starting strong in 6 well pitched innings at Tuscon.
The two highest ranking affiliates were in All-Star Game mode, while the lower levels produced some mixed results and a scandalous amount of unearned runs.
Every team nicknamed the Blue Jays were in action, save for Dunedin, and went 2-1 Tuesday. The teams without the Jays moniker had the night off.
Balbino Fuenmayor led his team to victory as the farm went 2-4.
It was a .500 day on the farm with the affiliates going 3-3. There were some solid performances but nothing that really stood out.
The three stars yesterday all went to pitchers, who combined for 21 innings of shutout ball with 7 hits allowed and 26 strikeouts. And Drew Hutchison wasn’t among them. However, Jesse Litsch’s rehab start for Las Vegas was not nearly as pretty.
