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Minor League Report: Will Robertson hit his fourth home run of the season, Juaron Watts-Brown made his professional debut, and more!

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For the second night in a row, Blue Jays affiliates won all their games.

However, the title of “organization sweep” could not be granted, as the Toronto Blue Jays squandered a fantastic chance to walk off the Seattle Mariners, and the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats were rained out, with the game postponed until Friday.

Either way, let’s take a look at some news from the three games in the organization that were played.

Buffalo extends the win streak to four games

We’re 10 games into the International League season, and the Buffalo Bisons are first in the league, ahead of the stacked Norfolk Tides. They won a barn burner on Wednesday, defeating the Rochester Red Wings 12-11 to move their record to 7-3.

Two home runs were hit in this game, as the rehabbing Danny Jansen hit a grand slam to take a 7-5 lead (the Bisons were down 5-0 in the top of the second), while Will Robertson hit his fourth home run of the season holy moly in just his 22 plate appearance.

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Robertson once again had a multi-hit game, going 2-5 with three RBIs and a strikeout. Jansen followed suit with the home run and a single for a four-RBI performance. Spencer Horwitz also had a multi-hit game, with two singles and a double. Addison Barger had two doubles, while Max McDowell, Robertson, and Horwitz also had at least one extra-base hit.

Pitching was hit or miss (I guess they never miss, huh?). Andrew Bash started the game and finished with a line of 1.2 IP, 2 ER (5 R), 2 BB, 2 K. Luis Quiñones gave up three earned runs, struck out and walked two, while Brendon Little gave up a hit and struck out a batter in his two thirds of an inning of work.

Jimmy Robbins made his season debut and finished with a line of 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K with a home run given up, while Mason Fluharty gave up his first run of the season and walked two batters. In fact, five of the six batters walked exactly two batters, which is an odd fact.

Fun game.

Vancouver a game under .500

After starting their season 0-3, the Vancouver Canadians have won their last two, defeating the Hillsboro Hops 2-0 on Wednesday.

Dylan Rock had the only multi-hit game and the only extra-base hit of this game, a double that our very own Chris Georges was able to call. It was the first of many Canadian runs that he’ll call this season. 

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Other players with a hit were Jeffrey Wehler, Estiven Machado, Jommer Hernandez, and Jace Bohrofen, who’s walk-up song is Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which absolutely rocks.

It was quite the opposite from the Bisons’ game, as the bats were not hot, but pitching was great. Kendry Rojas had a much better start, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K to bring his season ERA down to 4.76. 

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Reliever Chay Yeager also had a much better game, finishing with a line of 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, including a 95 mph fastball down the middle for the strikeout. Grayson Thurman finished with a line of 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, while Anders Tolhurst picked up the save, pitching an inning and striking out a batter.

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The Canadians will have a chance to get back to .500 on Thursday.

Dunedin’s hot start continues

The Dunedin Blue Jays lost their first game of the season, but are on a four-game win streak with a 9-2 win over the Tampa Tarpons. There’s a lot to mention in this one, so buckle up.

Yhoangel Aponte hit the only Blue Jays home run in this game while also walking. Last season, the 20-year-old outfielder gained a power surge and hit nine home runs in 197 plate appearances. It’ll be interesting to monitor his season as he jumps into the “A” levels.

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There were two triples as well, one from Arjun Nimmala (who also walked), as well as one from Canadian catcher Nicolas Deschamps.

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In terms of doubles, Victor Arias had a double, while Yeuni Munoz hit two doubles. Both players had multi-hit performances, while the rehabbing Cade Doughty also had a two-hit performance with two singles.

Speaking of rehabbing players, Riley Tirotta had a single while Manuel Beltre finished with the other Blue Jays’ hit.

On the pitching side, Blue Jays 2023 third-round Juaron Watts-Brown made his professional debut, and finished with a line of 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K for a 3.60 ERA on the season. Diving deeper because it’s 4:13 AM as I write this part and I have nothing better to do, Watts-Brown’s fastball averaged 93 mph, but maxed out at 95 mph and had a minimum velocity of 90.4 mph. His slider had a 44 whiff% and looked like a legit secondary.

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Sebastian Espino’s name may be familiar, however, he has converted from an outfielder to a pitcher this season, and it’s easy to see why. In his first ever professional pitching outing, he finished with a line of 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, but it’s the deeper dive that’s more interesting. His fastball averaged 95 mph and maxed out at 96.1 mph while throwing one slider the entire outing (he only needed seven pitches).

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Eliander Alcalde and Keiner Leon pitched the final three innings, giving up three hits between them, with Leon walking two and striking out two and Alcalde striking out a batter himself. It’s worth mentioning that the D-Jays’ bullpen has a 0.33 ERA in 27.2 innings pitched, according to Prospects Live’s John Brophy (@jbrophyba)

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What a fun team they have.

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

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO