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Minor League Report: Will Robertson stayed hot, Vancouver wins their first game of the season, and more!

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Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first organization sweep of the season!

The big league club won their game on Tuesday evening, but so too did the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, High-A Vancouver Canadians, and the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays all won their games.

Let’s take a look at some standouts from those games.

Bisons on a four-game win streak

The Buffalo Bisons have had a strong start to the season, which will be a theme throughout the article. On Tuesday, they defeated the Rochester Red Wings 6-5, bringing their record to 6-3, second in the International League East behind the stacked Norfolk Tides, who recently lost the top prospect in baseball, Jackson Holliday.

Buffalo’s standout player from this game was Will Robertson, who went 3-4 with his third home run of the season along with a strikeout. The outfielder may be 26, but he has seemingly figured it out since the middle of last season as three home runs in 19 plate appearances is notable, to say the least.

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Spencer Horwitz also had a multi-hit game, hitting two singles and walking once, while Orelvis Martinez had the only other extra-base hit in the game. Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, and Payton Henry had the other hits.

Paxton Schultz started the game and went 2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K while averaging 93.7 mph on the fastball. Troy Watson picked up the win, striking out two batters and allowing two hits in his two innings of work, while Connor Cooke picked up the save with a strikeout in his inning of work.

Hits galore for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

After defeating the Somerset Patriots 8-2, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats have now moved their record to 3-1, which is second in the Eastern League Northeast division.

Gabriel Martinez was the standout of this game, as he went 2-5 while hitting New Hampshire’s only two extra-base hits, a double and his first Double-A home run. In terms of multi-hit games, Alan Roden, Josh Kasevich, Rainer Nuñez, and Michael Turconi all had two singles, with all but Nuñez also reaching with a walk. Zach Britton and Alex De Jesus had the other two hits.

Trent Palmer missed the second half of the 2022 season and most of the 2023 season with Tommy John surgery, but started his first game of the season on Tuesday. He finished with a line of 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. The command and control has been an issue since returning, but that makes sense.

CJ Van Eyk picked up the win, finishing with a line of 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. Like Palmer, he missed a lot of the last two seasons but it’s good to have him back and healthy. Abdiel Mendoza picked up a hold, striking out four batters and allowing two hits in his two innings of work. Jimmy Burnette continued his reign of terror over Double-A batters, striking out the side in his inning of work. He now has an 83.3 K% and a -1.75 FIP, yes, a minus FIP, in two innings pitched.

Vancouver Canadians picked up their first win of the season

In Vancouver’s first home game of the season, they won the game 5-4. Moreover, our very own Chris Georges was on the call with Tyler Zickel and did an absolutely terrific job!

The big play of the game was Nick Goodwin’s three-run shot, which was just Vancouver’s second home run of the season, while also picking up a single and a walk. Jace Bohrofen picked up the only other multi-hit game, while Brennan Orf (#TeamBrennan) picked up the only extra-base hit with a double. Dasan Brown, Jaden Rudd, and Estiven Machado were the only other Blue Jays’ players with a hit.

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Chris McElvain made his first start in the Jays organization, finishing with a line of 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Jonathan Lavalllee, no relation to Canadians skipper Brent Lavallee, finished with a line of 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, while Justin Kelly finished with a line of 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.

Dunedin’s strong start to their season

Like every Blue Jays affiliate except for Vancouver, the Dunedin Blue Jays started their season off well with a 3-1 record, beating the Tampa Tarpons 6-2.

While there were no home runs in this game, the Baby Jays had three players with extra-base hits, as the rehabbing Cade Doughty had a double, as well as Edward Duran and Yhoangel Aponte. The latter was one of just two players with an extra-base hit day, as Manuel Beltre hit two singles as well. Other players with a hit were Victor Arias and Ricardo Balogh.

Canadian Connor O’Halloran had the start and finished with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. Moreover, he averaged 89.4 mph on the fastball and touched 92 mph, while generating seven whiffs which was good enough for second in the game. Carson Pierce did Carson Pierce things, finishing with a line of 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K with a 43 whiff%, gross.

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Converted catcher Jerry Huntzinger made his season debut and finished with a line of 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, while his four-seam fastball averaged 93.4 mph and touched 94.3 mph. J.J. Sanchez made his season debut, and struck out a batter while walking one and allowing two hits in his inning of work.

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

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO