There has been a lot of ink written about Vosver Zulueta and there is a lot of anticipation around his arrival. That's a lot for a pitcher who had thrown three pitches in his pro career before Thursday. In case you forgot, Zulueta is Cuban, signed with the Jays in 2019 but then needed TJ surgery. Upon his return he tore his ACL after the aforementioned three pitches and missed the rest of 2021. He returned to live action yesterday and struck out seven in four innings. Another debutant was Dexter Fowler who had three hits for Buffalo.
Buffalo were the only winners on Thursday. Vancouver and Dunedin both lost in extra innings.
Buffalo 5 Worcester 4
Reading 5 New Hampshire 1
Vancouver 8 Hillsboro 9 - 10 innings
Dunedin 1 Bradenton 2 - 11 innings
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
Dexter Fowler joined the Bisons on Thursday and went 3-4 with a sac fly and three RBI. Another "experienced" outfielder, Mallex Smith was 2-4 with three stolen bases.
Gabriel Moreno was 0-4 and his average is now down to .262. Samad Taylor is hitting .267 after going 1-5 with two K's.
Nick Allgeyer had a better start, one run in five innings with six K's. Matt Gage piked up his third save striking out three and keeping his ERA at zero. He has ten K's in six innings.
Jordan Groshans has been promoted to Buffalo. Otto Lopez played for Dunedin on Thursday but he too should be joining Buffalo soon.
Mac Mueller has been rising the bench for most of the season and was 0-12 before Thursday. But he broke out in a big way going 3-4 with a walk and driving in four. He hit his first home run, a three run shot. Unfortunately Mueller made two errors in right field including dropping a fly ball that would have ended the tenth inning but instead gave Hillsboro the walk off win. Leo Jimenez also homered, his first of the season. But he also struck out three times. He is off to a slow start too, hitting just .163.
Naswell Paulino was charged with four runs in 4.1 innings.
Dunedin's game went to extra innings. The Jays scored a run in the top of the eleventh but a two run home run in the bottom of the inning made it a losing night. Yosver Zulueta went four innings, one hit and seven K's. Kendry Rojas followed and he threw 4.2 innings. With five hits and three walks, it wasn't his best.
Dasan Brown homered for Dunedin's only regulation run, it was his second homer in the last week. Hitting .235 his bat is showing some signs of life. He added a single. Rainer Nunez drove in the run in the eleventh. He is hitting .300, Adriel Sotolongo is hitting .273 and Brown's .235 is next best among the starters. There are a lot of ugly batting averages in the Dunedin lineup.
Three Stars
Third Star - Mallex Smith
Second Star - Yosver Zulueta
First Star - Dexter Fowler
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