A miserable Monday as the #LetsGoBlueJays affiliates lost not only all three games but saw their second-best prospect go down to injury. New Hampshire's game against Trenton was rained out. They will play two on Tuesday in Manchester.
Syracuse 7 Buffalo 3
An RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a two-run home run by on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. home run gave the Herd a 3-0 lead after the first. It all went downhill from there. Bo Bichette - who began the game with a walk, stole second and scored on Vlady's base rap - was knocked out of the game in his next at-bat after he was plunked in the hand by Hector Santiago. Gurriel had three hits and Roemon Fields had a pair. Andrew Guillotte had the other hit after replacing Bichette.
Jordan Romano served up a three-run homer that tied the game in the third. The Markham, Ontario native kept the Mets off the board in his three other innings, scattering three hits, a walk and a plunk while striking out six. Danny Young took the loss as he gave up a two-run dinger among the three he allowed over two-third of an inning. Danny Barnes and Derek Law struck out two apiece as they combined for 2-1/3 perfect innings. Shawn Morimando gave up a solo shot in the eighth.
Dunedin had just six hits in this one. Cullen Large had a triple while Cal Stevenson, Christian Williams, Demi Orimoloye, Chavez Young and Chris Bec had base hits. Bec drew a walk and stole two bases while Young swiped one. Norberto Obeso had a base on balls. Kevin Vicuna was 0-for-4 and Samad Taylor was 0-for-3.
Maximo Castillo suffered the loss despite a solid start that saw him cough up just two runs on five hits. He struck out seven and walked nobody. Emerson Jimenez gave up a run in the seventh and William Ouellette allowed two more in the eighth.
South Bend 13 Lansing 10
This game was just 11 minutes shy of four hours. It looked like the Lugnuts had this one under control as Joey Murray limited the Cubs to one run over the first six innings. He walked a pair and got the first two outs of the seventh before the 18-wheeler began to go off the cliff. Mike Pascoe allowed those runners to score and three of his own as South Bend erased a 5-1 deficit to go up 6-5. Sean Rackoski was roughed up for three more runs in the eighth to wipe out an 8-6 Lugnuts lead. Joey Pulido put up a zero in the ninth but he was popped for four runs in the 10th, two of them earned. Murray used his so-called invisi-ball to strike out 10 and had a half-dozen groundouts with a walk and run total of three over 6-2/3 innings.
D.J. Neal had two hits, both of them home runs, and Jake Brodt also went deep. Reggie Pruitt doubled, singled twice and walked to get on base four times and John Aiello also had a three-hit night. Alejandro Kirk, Jordan Groshans and McGregory Contreras had two hits apiece with Kirk and Groshans walking once. Hagen Danner had a knock and a walk. Only Otto Lopez was hitless as he went 0-for-6.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Buffalo
2. D.J. Neal, Lansing
1. Joey Murray, Lansing
Extra Innings
- The Buffalo News has a story on Reese McGuire and another on Andy Burns.
- Prospects 1500 checks in on its Top 50 Jays prospects.
- Sportsnet focuses on analytics in its Farm Report from earlier in the month.
- The Lansing State Journal talks to Lugnuts skipper Dallas McPherson.
- C's Plus Baseball has a chat with 2018 C's pitcher Troy Miller.
