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Blue Jays: New Hampshire Fisher Cats strike out franchise-high 20 batters on Saturday

Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Aug 30, 2026, 13:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 30, 2026, 15:08 EDT

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The Toronto Blue Jays farm system has seen an influx of high-strikeout pitching prospects the past few years.

Saturday’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ game was a perfect display of that. Despite a 6-4 defeat, the Blue Jays’ Double-A team set a franchise high of 20 strikeouts, with all four pitchers striking out at least two per inning.

Blue Jays’ top pitching prospect Nolan Perry started the game, striking out two batters in the first inning. He gave up two earned runs in the top of the second, but struck out two more batters while generating a ground out.

A double play accounted for two of the outs in the top of the third, but he got Jack O’Dowd swinging at three pitches for his fifth strikeout of the game. Then in the top of the fourth, Perry struck out the first two batters he faced and finished with a line of 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. The righty generated 14 whiffs on 36 total swings, a 38.9 whiff%.

Following Perry’s departure, the Fisher Cats scored a run to tie the game at two, which took him off the hook for the eventual loss. Alex Amalfi entered in the top of the fifth, striking out the first batter he faced. The second batter walked, then he gave up a double that restored the Hartford Yard Goats’ lead. He struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

O’Dowd led off the top of the sixth with a home run to put the Yard Goats up 4-2. Amalfi responded with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to end his evening. The right-handed pitcher finished with a line of 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, as well as nine whiffs on 17 total swings (52.9 whiff%).

Gage Stanifer entered in the seventh and gave up a lead-off single. He struck out two batters with a hit by pitch sandwiched in between. However, the Yard Goats hit a two-out single for a 5-2 lead. Stanifer struck out O’Dowd to get out of the inning.

That was Stanifer’s lone blemish, as he struck out the side in the top of the eighth after a lead-off walk. He finished with a line of 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, generating eight whiffs on 16 total swings, a 50 whiff%.

Recording the final three outs was Yondrei Rojas. After a ground out and a single, the right-hander struck out his first batter, but threw a wild pitch. Now with a runner at second, the Yard Goats tacked on another run to make it 6-4. That runner was stranded as Rojas struck out O’Dowd. His line reads 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, generating four whiffs on nine total swings, a 44.4 whiff%.