Minor League Report: Cristian Feliz hit his ninth home run of the season

1 month ago

The Blue Jays organization were just one win away from an organizational sweep.

On Thursday, five Blue Jays affiliates were in action, with the four “A” affiliates all winning, while the Florida Complex League Blue Jays lost a barn burner.

Let’s dig into the latest Minor League Report!

Buffalo doubled up Syracuse

The Buffalo Bisons defeated the Syracuse Mets 8-4 to bring their season record to 29-25, three and a half games behind the Mets who are in second in the International League East.

Rafael Lantigua had a great 2023, but is off to a slow start in the first two months this season. However, he hit his second home run of the season for the team’s only home run. Addison Barger hit his 14th double, while Will Robertson hit his seventh double. Both players had multi-hit games. Other players with a hit were Steward Berroa and Riley Tirotta, but Cam Eden and Spencer Horwitz each walked twice.

Paolo Espino made the start and finished with a line of 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, with Beau Sulser being the first out of the pen, giving up three earned runs in two innings. Mason Fluharty got the win, pitching an inning and a third with just a hit a batter, while Erik Swanson struck out and walked a batter in his inning of work. Hayden Juenger struck out a batter in two thirds of an inning.

New Hampshire scored six

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats defeated the Akron RubberDucks 6-1 to move their record to 22-26, second worst in the Eastern League Northeast division.

Funnily enough, in Michael Dominguez’s nine prior starts, he picked up a no decision. However, he finished with a line of 6 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 B, 5 K to bring his season ERA to 3.83. Abdiel Mendoza was the first out of the pen, giving up an earned run in two innings of work. Ryan Boyer struck out a batter and gave up two hits.

As for the bats, there were no home runs hit, but Devonte Brown, Michael Turconi, and Rainer Nuñez all hit doubles, with the latter hitting two. Gabriel Martinez had three hits, while Andres Sosa and Miguel Hiraldo each had a single.

Vancouver shutout Tri-City

After a tough six games, the Vancouver Canadians have recently turned it around. One of those wins came on Thursday, as they defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-0, restarting their win streak.

Of note was Canadian Connor O’Halloran’s first professional start in his home country. It was a great start as well, as he finished with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K in what became a shutout win. Carson Pierce struck out three batters in two innings, Johnathan Lavallee struck out two in an innings, while Josh Mollerus struck out a batter in an inning for the save.

Nick Goodwin finished the game with his seventh double and second triple, while Jackson Hornung had a double, along with two singles. The two 2023 draftees combined for five of Vancouver’s eight hits, as Jeffrey Wehler, Ryan McCarty, and Jean Arnaez had the other three hits. Shoutout to Dasan Brown, who had three walks.

Dunedin walks off St. Lucie for the second straight game

It’s too little too late for the Dunedin Blue Jays to salvage their season, but they are now on a five-game win streak, as they defeated the St. Lucie Mets 5-4 with a walk-off win. With a 25-23 record, they are eight games back, but winning now could help them when the second half starts.

2023 Minor League Rule 5 pick Alexis Hernandez is on some sort of streak at the moment, as he hit his fourth home run in his last six games. Prior to May 23rd’s game, he had a 63 wRC+, but now sits at 120.

The biggest hit of the night belonged to Crisitan Feliz, who hit his ninth home run of the season to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Canadian Bryce Arnold hit his third home run of the season, and all but one of Dunedin’s hits were of the extra-base variety, as Canadian Nicolas Deschamps and Jean Joseph each hit doubles. The only player with a single was Manuel Beltre, while the rehabbing Peyton Williams walked twice.

Grant Rogers made the start, finishing with a line of 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K with three home runs given up. Juanmi Vasquez struck out two, allowed two hits, walked two batters, in two innings and two thirds pitched, a whole lot of twos. Kai Peterson, on the other hand, faced seven batters and struck out six of them in two innings pitched.

FCL Jays lost 10-9

The one team keeping the organization from completing the organizational sweep was the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, who fell 10-9 to the FCL Phillies.

Despite the runs, the FCL Jays hit just two extra-base hits, both from Kekai Rios who had two doubles. Enmanuel Bonilla, Yueni Munoz, and Carlos Vasquez all had multi-hit performances as well, while Sam Shaw had a hit and three walks. The other player with a hit was Maykel Minoso who had a hit and a walk, while Kendry Chirinos had two walks.

Eminem released a new song, Houdini. Eminem Flores, on the other hand, finished with a line of 1.2 IP, 1 H, 4 ER (6 R), 5 BB, 3 K, not a great start, but still better than whatever Marshall Mathers produced. Despite the runs given up in a short outing, Flores’ ERA stands at a respectable 3.94.

Raudy Gomez was the first out of the pen, finishing with a line of 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K to bring his season ERA to 3.27. Knuckleballer Ryan Chasse was tagged with the loss, giving up three earned runs and three walks in two thirds of an inning. Luis Torres had a good outing though, giving up an earned run in 4.1 innings pitched, including four strikeouts to bring his season ERA to 2.31.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

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