Lourdes' Bat Comes Back to Life

Thursday, July 20 2017 @ 10:02 AM EDT

Contributed by: Gerry

Lordes Gurriel did not play well in Dunedin but was promoted to New Hampshire anyway. In a small sample he has hit well there and looks like he is getting back in the groove after time off for his defection from Cuba and his early season injuries. Joining him in New Hampshire is Ryan Borucki who has been promoted according to John Lott. This might precipitate another move as New Hampshire already had five starters. The Jays have had to shuffle a lot of pitchers recently and it it hasn't always worked out well. New Hampshire, Dunedin, Bluefield and the GCL Jays won on Wednesday while things are ugly in Buffalo, Lansing and Vancouver. Buffalo have been in very bad form for over a month now. Lansing have lost the glow of Bo and Vladdy and have also lost pitchers to the DL. Their pitching is a definite weak link. And Vancouver are in first place but hanging on through a rough patch.

Buffalo

The Jays have used a lot of pitchers this year and have also had their share of injuries. This has taken a toll on the the teams down the line, and in particular Buffalo. The Bisons dropped another close game on Wednesday, this time in the bottom of the ninth when Griffin Glaude took the loss. Glaude was pitching in Lansing a week ago. It wasn't all Glaude's fault, Michael Saunders and Gregorio Petit made back to back errors in the ninth. Cesar Valdez was the scheduled starter but he was in Boston. Five relievers pitched and each of them allowed one run.

Petit and Roemon Fields each had two hits. Fields is hanging in there with his .319 average.


New Hampshire

Another win for the cats. Shane Dawson did not pitch particularly well but he did enough to get the win. Carlos Ramirez picked up his first save.

Lourdes Gurriel was 2-2 with two walks. It is only 25 at-bats in AA so far but he is hitting a lot better there than he did in Dunedin. Harold Ramirez was 3-4 and Jonathan Davis was 3-4 with a double, a home run and a walk. Davis is hitting .256, Ramirez .260. But Davis walks more and has more power so Davis' OPS is .777 while Ramirez OPS is at 667.


Dunedin

The D-Jays won with Bo Bichette having the day off and Vlad Jr. going hitless. Vlad was 0-2 with two walks. Juan Kelly and Connor Panas homered for Dunedin. Anthony Alford was 1-4 and drove in the third Dunedin run.

Pitching was the name of the game for the Jays with five pitchers combing on a shutout. Jordan Romano got back on track with five good innings, three hits and seven K's. Taylor Cole pitched an inning in relief as he works his way back following injury. As mentioned above John Lott is reporting that Ryan Borucki has been promoted to AA.


Lansing

The Lugnuts were whitewashed 20-3, it was Ugly with a capital U. Mike Ellenbest started and was bombed. The Luggies need some pitching help.

Rodrigo Orozco was the lone bright spot. He was 3-4 with a walk and has picked up his game recently.


Vancouver

Vancouver are in a playoff push. Their first half ends this week and they have a one game lead. The lead was bigger but they have gone 2-8 over their last ten games and they are on a five game losing streak. They were shut out on Wednesday and they had as many hits, three, as errors.

Donnie Sellars started and didn't do well. At the back of the bullpen Orlando Pascual and Jake Fishman each pitched two good innings. Both have been pitching well this season.


Bluefield

The Jays racked up 11 hits en route to the win. The usual suspects Chavez Young and Yorman Rodriguez had two hit games. Ryan Noda was hitless but walked three times, the word is out on him. Mc Gregory Contreras also chipped in two hits.

Maximo Castillo started but couldn't get through five. Three relievers took it home including Marcus Reyes and Ty Tice, both later round draftees this year who have been pitching well out of the pen.


GCL Blue Jays

The baby Jays also rapped out 11 hits. Dominic Abbadessa and the rehabbing Emilio Guerrero each had three hits. Joseph Reyes added two doubles and four RBI's.

Justin Maese started and was shaky in his first rehab outing. Felipe Castaneda had five punchouts in four innings.



3 Stars

3rd star: Jordan Romano

2nd star: Joseph Reyes

1st star: Lourdes Gurriel


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