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Minor League Report: RJ Schreck hit his fifth home run as a Fisher Cat
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Photo credit: © Nicole Hester - The Tennessean/USA Today
Ryley Delaney
Aug 24, 2024, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 24, 2024, 08:41 EDT
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Unlike Thursday, there were some losses in the Blue Jays organization on Friday.
Friday saw the four “A” affiliate teams go 2-2, including an important win for the Dunedin Blue Jays. Equally important, what happened to the Vancouver Canadians?
Well, let’s dig into all of that in the latest Minor League Report!

The big inning sunk Buffalo

Unfortunately, the Buffalo Bisons’ win on Thursday was short lived, as they fell 5-2 to the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday. Their second-half record now sits at 20-29.
There was some good in this game for the bats. Alan Roden continued to smack the ball in a recent stretch, as he hit his ninth double with the Bisons, as well as four of Buffalo’s 11 hits. Josh Kasevich also hit a double, his second in Triple-A. Riley Tirotta hit two singles, while Nathan Lukes, Luis De Los Santos, Damiano Palmegiani, and Jonatan Clase each had a single.
Starting the game for the Bisons was Paolo Espino, who pitched two innings with two strikeouts. Easton Lucas pitched three scoreless innings before allowing a lead off double in the top of the sixth. Replacing him was Braydon Fisher, who allowed that run to score and was tagged with four earned runs in his two thirds of an inning.
Hayden Juenger allowed a double that cashed in two of Fisher’s base runners, but he got out of it thanks to a strikeout. Juenger’s second inning of work was uneventful, allowing a single and nothing else while facing four batters. Eric Pardinho pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout and a walk, while Luis Frías struck out a batter in a clean inning of work.

New Hampshire doubled up Hartford

With a 4-2 win over the Hartford Yard Goats on Friday, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats have an 18-29 record, the worst in the Eastern League. However, they have won four of the five games played in this series.
RJ Schreck has been terrific since joining the Jays, as he hit his fifth home run as Fisher Cat, as well as his sixth double. He’s had only 72 plate appearances. Also acquired in a trade before the 2024 trade deadline was Charles McAdoo, who hit his fourth double with the Fisher Cats. Michael Turconi had two singles, while Josh Rivera had a single of his own.
Rafael Sánchez started the game for the Fisher Cats and continued to pitch well, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K to bring his ERA in Double-A to 2.28. Anders Tolhurst picked up the win, striking out three batters in two innings of work. Andrew Bechtold and Ryan Jennings struck out a batter in a clean inning of work, with the latter picking up his first professional save.

Vancouver lost in extra innings

The Vancouver Canadians fell 3-2 in extra innings to the Everett AquaSox, which was especially painful as they had a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the ninth. However, They have a 31-21 record. In past Minor League Reports, I stated that the overall standings were important to determine who Spokane would play if they won the first and second half.
That’s untrue though, as the team that finishes with the second-best record in the second-half will play Spokane if they are to win the second-half as well. The Hillsboro Hops have a 24-26 record, meaning that the Canadians have a six-game cushion instead of a two-game cushion.
With all that being said, the Canadians’ player of the game has to be Peyton Williams, who hit his 14th and 15th double, as well as a single. Jay Harry also hit a double, while Nick Goodwin, Je’Von Ward, Jacob Sharp, and Bryce Arnold each hit a single. Jace Bohrofen’s 13-game hitting streak ended though.
I don’t think it’s hot take to say that Kendry Rojas is a top 5 Blue Jays prospect. For the fifth straight game, he finished with a quality start as he had a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K to bring his High-A ERA to 1.79. Over those five games, he’s pitched 32 innings and has a 1.13 ERA and 31.4 K%, on top of a low 5 BB%.
Aaron Munson was the first out of the pen, striking out a batter in a clean inning. Geison Urbaez also pitched a scoreless inning, walking two and allowing a hit, but getting out of it unscathed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Chay Yeager, as he allowed a two-run home run in the top of the ninth, and was tagged with another run in extra, taking the loss and a blown save.

Dunedin shutout Clearwater

The Dunedin Blue Jays are within striking distance of the Florida State League West division lead. With a 6-0 win over the Clearwater Threshers, they are now 27-23 in the second-half and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Moreover, the D-Jays are 4.5 games back of the division lead, with the leading Fort Myers Mighty Mussels playing a doubleheader on Saturday.
Gilberto Batista’s second start in the Jays’ organization went better than the first, as he finished with a line of 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K to bring his ERA in Single-A to 1.29. Diving deeper into his stats, he generated two whiffs on 23 total pitches, while the fastball averaged a tick under 93 mph and maxed out at 94.4 mph. Not too shabby.
The first reliever out of the pen for the D-Jays was Franly Urena, who pitched an inning and two thirds with three walks and a strikeout. Eliander Alcalde pitched two and one third innings, striking out two and allowing a hit to bring his season ERA down to 3.14.
Despite the D-Jays’ 10 hits, none of the were the extra-base variety. Moreover, two players had 70% of their hits, as Edward Duran had a four-single performance, while Sean Keys had a three-single performance. Nick Mitchell, Manuel Beltre, and Brock Tibbitts each had a single, while Carter Cunningham walked three times and Aaron Parker walked twice.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

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