Minor League Report: Dunedin homered three times, New Hampshire’s bats are unstoppable, and more!

Pitching let the team down though, as starter Andrew Bash finished with a line of 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K with a home run given up. Mike Mayers was tagged with the loss, going 1.2 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. Moreover, Hayden Juenger allowed a run and struck out three in his inning and two thirds of work, while Connor Cooke walked a batter and allowed a hit, but didn’t give up an earned run.

New Hampshire wins again

On Tuesday, Toronto’s Double-A affiliate defeated the Portland Sea Dogs 10-2 to move to 7-3. Like the Buffalo Bisons, the bats are gettin’ going and pitching has been strong for the Fisher Cats.

Devonte Brown hit the only home run for the Fisher Cats, his first of the season, but it was due to an injury. Rainer Nuñez, Gabriel Martinez, Alex De Jesus, and Alan Roden all hit doubles in the evening. That was Martinez’s fifth of the season and De Jesus’ first of the year.

Martinez was one of three players with a multi-hit game, as both Roden and De Jesus also had multi-hit games, with the latter walking twice and driving in four runs. Other players with a hit were Josh Kasevich and Zach Britton. The two players without a hit, Michael Turconi and Garrett Spain walked five times between the two of them.

Abdiel Mendoza made his first Double-A start, finishing with a line of 4 IP, 1 H 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K to bring his season ERA to 1. For a guy picked in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, Mendoza has pitched very well since joining the Jays’ organization.

Other pitchers out of the pen were Alejandro Melean and Adrián Hernández. The latter pitched two innings, gave up a run, but struck out three to bring his season ERA to 1.59.

Dunedin is first in the Florida State League

With a 10-5 win over the Clearwater Threshers, the Dunedin Blue Jays moved to 8-2 for the season, first in the Florida State League West division.

The D-Jays made up for a lack of home runs in the upper minors, as three different players went deep for the Single-A team on Tuesday. Tucker Toman hit his second home run of the season, while Bryce Arnold and Cristian Feliz both hit their first home runs of the season.

Side note on Feliz’s home run, according to Dunedin play-by-play commentator, Larry Larson, this ball had an exit velocity of 112 mph, the second-hardest hit ball in the FSL this season. For context, when I was doing Exit Vel’O’Clock, there were only a handful of balls hit over 110 mph in 2021 and 2022, mainly from Rainer Nuñez.

Anyway, Feliz and Arnold both had multi-hit games, as did Alexis Hernandez, who hit one of two doubles on the day. The other extra-base hit came from Manuel Beltre, who went 1-5 with two RBIs.

In fact, Riley Tirotta was the D-Jay player without a hit, but he walked three times. Arjun Nimmala, Yhoangel Aponte, and Edward Duran were the other players with a hit.

Canadian Connor O’Halloran made his second start of the season, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K with a home run given up, moving his season ERA to 2.70. Irv Carter also made an appearance, finishing with a line of 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K with two home runs given up, a problem early in his professional career.

 Keiner Leon picked up the final four outs, striking out two batters.

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