It was a 3-4 night in the Blue Jays minor league system.
Joey Murray overcame a case of the jitters, and Jordan Groshans reached base safely in 4 of 5 plate appearances to lead Lansing to a 7-3 win in Fort Wayne. With a number of family members in attendance, Murray struggled with his breaking ball for the first two innings, and his defence booted a couple of balls behind him, but Murray settled down over his final three innings to get the W, fanning 5 in as many innings. Manager Dallas McPherson has these Lugs off and running, with John Aiello stealing home on the back end of a double steal in the 6th. An inning later, Alejandro Kirk scampered home with a steal of his own after Nick Podkul had taken off for 2nd. Reggie Pruitt stole 2nd three times, and Jake Brodt hit a pair of triples (one lost by the Fort Wayne RF in the twilight). Pruitt and Kirk had a pair of hits. North Vancouver’s Will McAffer, Joey Pulido, and Connor Law tossed four innings of shutout ball in relief to preserve the W for Murray.
Kevin Smith drove in the winning run for AA New Hampshire in the bottom of the 11th. Starter Hector Perez struggled with his command, and reached his pitch count with one out in the 3rd. A quartet of relievers, including Francisco Rios, Jake Fishman, Bryan Baker, and Kirby Snead, held Binghamton off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
Dunedin scored 3 runs in the 6th, and 3 more in the 9th to seal their 2nd win in as many games against Clearwater. Chavez Young went 3-5 with a double and a triple, and Riley Adams was 3-4 with a BB. Starter Maximo Castillo tossed four shutout innings, and three relievers, led by William Oulllette’s three scoreless innings, combined to preserve the win.
Buffalo was the only team in the system to do down to defeat, losing 6-1 at home to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Bo Bichette was 2-4 with a double, while Andy Burns hit his 1st Homer of the year. Shawn Morimando gave up a pair of runs in the 1st, while reliever Zach Jackson gave up a pair in the 8th, and Justin Shafer another pair in the 9th.
