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Blue Jays: Sean Keys hits walk-off homer in Bisons victory
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 21, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 21, 2026, 07:08 EDT
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Somehow, some way, the Toronto Blue Jays need to find a spot for Sean Keys.
Last season, the corner infield prospect smacked an organization-leading 19 home runs, doing so while playing half his games at Nat Bailey Stadium, a notoriously unfriendly ball park for left-handed hitters.
On Saturday evening, the Keys and the Buffalo Bisons took on the Charlotte Knights. Knotted up at two apiece in the bottom of the ninth, Keys stepped up to the plate with a runner on base, walking it off with his fourth home run of the season.
He’s hit the ground runner in the final rung of the minor league ladder, as the 23-year-old is now batting .298/.421/.681 with four home runs in 57 plate appearances since joining the Bisons. It runs so much deeper than that though, as when accounting for his Double-A numbers, the walk-off home run was Keys’ organization-leading 18th of the season.
For context, Keys hit 19 home runs in 529 plate appearances last season. Before the end of June, the corner infielder is now just one away from matching that, as his 18 home runs have come in 266 plate appearances.
The fit for Keys’ bat is difficult given he’s a left-handed hitter who plays both third and first base. But he’s pretty close to forcing their hands, as the Blue Jays have struggled to hit for power. It’s such a difficult fit that the Jays would have to either move George Springer or Kazuma Okamoto into the outfield to make call-up work.
But somehow, some way, it’s a decision that’ll need to be made in the coming weeks if he continues to hit like this.

Other notes…

Keys had the most notable hit, but both Jonatan Clase and Josh Kasevich had strong games. The former went 3-5 with his sixth double of the season, while Kasevich hit three singles, driving in the Bisons’ two other runs. Jay Harry has hit the ground running in Triple-A, hitting his fourth double since his call-up.
On the mound, Grant Rogers fired a quality start, giving up two earned runs over six innings of two-run ball, striking out four in the process. Chad Dallas pitched in relief, throwing two scoreless innings with a strikeout and a walk.
Hedbert Perez has raked in his limited plate appearances this season, and on Saturday, the outfielder hit his second home run since joining the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Including his rehab outings in the Florida Complex League and Single-A, that’s his sixth home run and 17th RBI in 43 plate appearances. Unfortunately, the Fisher Cats lost that one 10-2.
It took a few years, but Tucker Toman is starting to look like the prospect the Blue Jays drafted 77th overall in 2022. The infielder had a four-hit game for the High-A Vancouver Canadians on Saturday, hitting his 11th double and ninth home run, falling a triple shy of the cycle. J.R. Freethy and Alexis Hernandez also hit home runs, while Maddox Latta hit a single. Despite scoring eight runs, the C’s fell 9-8 in walk-off fashion.
Another prospect who has caught fire in recent times is Juan Sanchez, who registered his second three-hit game in his last three games with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays on Saturday. That included his 13th double of the season.
Also hitting doubles were Jake Cook, Brock Tibbitts, and Aldo Gaxiola, with the last two also hitting a triple. Italian lefty Giacomo Taschin made his Single-A debut, giving up two earned runs over his three innings of work.
Unsurprisingly, the FCL Blue Jays won again, walking off the FCL Yankees by a score of 3-2 to move to 26-10 this season. Not a whole lot happened on the hitting side of things, as Pascual Archila hit two singles. It’s a different story on the mound.
Ricky Tiedemann started the game, striking out two in a scoreless inning. Connor O’Halloran is a name I haven’t typed in a while, and he pitched in relief, giving up two runs (one earned) while striking out four in two innings of work. Ramon Suarez struck out three in a scoreless inning.
Both Dominican Summer League teams were in action. The DSL Blue Jays Blue won their game 7-6, while the DSL Blue Jays Red fell 9-1. 
All 10 of the DSL Blue Jays Blue’s hits were singles, with Michael Mesa, Isay Veras, and Samuel Orellana all finishing with two hits, while Sebastian Casanova had three hits. Starter Sahir De La Cruz pitched well, striking out four over four one-run innings, lowering his season ERA to 2.70.
In the DSL Blue Jays Reds’ game, they mustered just three hits, albeit walked five times to just three strikeouts. Outfielder Fabian Gonzalez hit his second double of the season, the only extra-base hit for the team.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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