Game 37: Greeneville Astros at Bluefield Blue Jays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

ASTROS (22-17)

1 D'Andre Toney CF

2 Brian Blasik 2B

3 Jean Batista 1B

4 Ernesto Genoves C

5 Ariel Ovando RF

6 Terrell Joyce LF
7 Angel Ibanez 3B

8 Jimmy Howick SS

9 Ricky Gingras DH

RHP Daniel Minor (0-0, 3.45)

BLUE JAYS (16-20)

1 Jacob Anderson RF

2 Christian Lopes 2B

3 Dwight Smith Jr. LF

4 Santiago Nessy DH

5 Seth Conner C

6 Matt Dean 3B

7 Dickie Joe Thon SS

8 Jordan Leyland 1B

9 D.J. Jones CF

LHP Daniel Norris (1-1, 4.87)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:50. Tonight's game will also be on local radio on 1440 WHIS AM

WEATHER: 75 degrees with rain coming. Keep those fingers crossed.

UMPIRES: PLATE Evan Barger  FIELD Ryan Wills

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Everyone joined the party at Bowen Field on Monday night. All nine in the Bluefield Blue Jays lineup picked up a hit in an 8-3 victory over the Greeneville Astros. Dwight Smith’s two-run homer keyed a two-out four-run rally in the second inning that put the home team in front for good. Daniel Norris, Griffin Murphy and Wil Browning held the Astros scoreless after the third inning. The visitors got on the board first, scoring twice against Norris in the second inning. Ariel Ovando and Terrell Joyce led off the frame with singles. Ovando scored on a Michael Martinez groundout and Joyce came home on Jimmy Howick’s double. The two sides quickly traded run-scoring groundouts before Bluefield broke out with two down in the third against Astros starter Daniel Minor (L, 0-1). Eric Arce worked a walk and Seth Conner followed with an RBI triple that just eluded the dive of center fielder Jose Monzon. Dwight Smith pulled a two-run homer for his fourth long ball of the season, but the Jays weren’t finished. Nessy singled before Christian Lopes hit another ball past a diving Monzon. Nessy scored and Lopes tried to come all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, but he was thrown out 8-4-2 on a strong relay from second baseman Jean Batista. The lefty Norris (W, 2-1) settled in for the Baby Jays. After allowing five hits to the first 11 men he faced, he set down eight of ten to grind through five innings and pick up the win. He allowed only the three early runs while striking out four and walking one. Griffin Murphy was excellent again as the first Blue Jays out of the bullpen. He struck out the first three batters he faced in a perfect sixth inning, worked around a seventh-inning walk with a pickoff and strikeout, then posted another zero in the eighth. The lefty is riding a 10 1/3 inning scoreless streak, and he hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 innings over his last five outings.

VS. THE ASTROS: The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice. In Bluefield on August 3, the Jays scored two in the ninth to force extra innings, but Chase Davidson’s 11th-inning single won it for Greeneville. Bluefield won the middle game before the Astros won the rubber game. In Greeneville from August 22-24, the two teams split the first two contests and the Jays won the third game to win the series and earn a season split.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP KEVIN COMER: Baseball America’s 17th-ranked Blue Jays prospect, righty Kevin Comer is coming off back-to-back Mercer Cup wins over Princeton, one in relief and one in a start. His last time out was a start at Princeton on Thursday. He held the Rays to two runs, one earned, in five innings of work. He was a supplemental first-round pick (57th overall) in 2011 after Miguel Olivo signed with Seattle. After the Shamong, NJ native pitched his Seneca HS team to the Group 3 state championship, the Blue Jays bought Comer out of his commitment to Vanderbilt with a $1.65 million signing bonus. Baseball America says the right-hander has “a clean arm action and delivery, and he gets good angle to his pitches.” They added that he has a “live fastball that generally sits around (91-93).” He also throws a curve that “some scouts think will be a plus pitch in time.”

RHP ADRIAN HOUSER: Right-hander Adrian Houser starts tonight’s series finale for the Astros. The 2011 second-round pick has allowed two runs in each of his last three starts, going between five and six innings in each. He picked up the win over Kingsport last Saturday, striking out seven in five and two-thirds frames. Over a two-start stretch on June 29 and July 6, he threw 13 straight scoreless innings with 14 punchouts against Danville and Johnson City. With an even 3.00 ERA, he ranks tenth in the Appy League. The six-foot-four, 19-year-old Houser was a second-round pick in the 2011 draft out of Locust Grove HS in Oklahoma. As a senior at Locust Grove in 2011, Houser struck out 125 batters in 62 innings with a 10-1 record and 0.92 ERA en route to a state title.

MURPHY LAYS DOWN THE LAW: Lefty reliever Griffin Murphy has been dominant for Bluefield in 2012. With three more shutout innings last night, he lowered his ERA to 1.61, the fifth-lowest in the Appy League among pitchers with at least 20 IP. The 2010 second-round pick is working on a 10 1/3 inning scoreless streak, including three straight outings of three shutout frames. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 innings (five appearances), dating back to July 5.

WELCOME BACK: Righty Joe Musgrove, who spent the first month of the season with the Baby Jays, returns to Bluefield for the first time since being traded to the Astros on July 20. Toronto and Houston made a ten-player trade that included the 2011 supplemental first-round pick. Musgrove allowed one run on five hits in eight innings of work for the Baby Jays prior to the deal. Joe went to the Astros along with RHP Francisco Cordero, OF Ben Francisco, RHP Asher Wojciechowski, 2011 Bluefielder and LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez and a player to be named later in exchange for RHP Brandon Lyon, LHP J.A. Happ and RHP David Carpenter. Musgrove is scheduled to toss two innings of relief after Houser throws tonight.

THE TERMINATOR: Seth Conner batted cleanup for the first time last night and contributed an RBI single in the sixth inning. He’s been on a tear for the Baby Jays, as he’s 7-for-20 (.350) with a homer, two doubles, a triple, five RBIs and four runs scored during a six-game hitting streak. That equals his longest hit streak of the season, a six-gamer that was run up from June 30-July 13. On Friday, the Rogersville, MO native hit his first Appy League homer, a three-run shot in the top of the first against Princeton ace Blake Snell. The converted third baseman has seen most of his playing time at catcher while Santiago Nessy missed two weeks with a hamstring injury, but with Art Charles called up to Vancouver, Seth has more recently played first base. Conner leads Appy League catchers (min. 60 PA) with a .322 batting average.

GETTING THE LAST LAUGH: Greeneville scored twice in the top of the second inning once again last night, but this time the Baby Jays came back to win. The victory snaps Bluefield’s string of losing 13 straight games in which their opponent scores first.  They are now 2-16 in such games compared to a 14-4 mark when they strike first. The only game the Jays had won after allowing the first run was on June 23 against Johnson City in the second home game of the year. The Cardinals scored twice in the top of the first inning, but the Jays rallied and won the game in the tenth inning on Jacob Anderson’s walk-off double.

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-31

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 36: Greeneville Astros at Bluefield Blue Jays

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

ASTROS (22-16)

1 Jose Monzon CF

2 Marc Wik LF

3 Jean Batista 2B

4 Ernesto Genoves C

5 Ariel Ovando RF

6 Terrell Joyce DH
7 Angel Ibanez 3B

8 Michael Martinez 1B

9 Jimmy Howick SS

RHP Daniel Minor (0-0, 3.45)

BLUE JAYS (15-20)

1 D.J. Jones CF

2 Eric Arce DH

3 Seth Conner 3B

4 Dwight Smith Jr. LF

5 Santiago Nessy C

6 Christian Lopes 2B

7 Dickie Joe Thon SS

8 Jordan Leyland 1B

9 Jacob Anderson RF

LHP Daniel Norris (1-1, 4.87)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Sorry folks, no broadcast tonight. But I'll be on the air tomorrow night at 6:50 for the 7:05 game.

WEATHER:

UMPIRES: PLATE Ryan Wills  FIELD Evan Barger

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: In a game that featured three ties and five lead changes, the Greeneville Astros plated a run in the top of the ninth inning on a Julio Carmona wild pitch to turn away the Bluefield Blue Jays 8-7 at Bowen Field on Sunday. Dickie Joe Thon hit a game-tying homer in the seventh and Christian Lopes stole home and had three RBIs, but the visitors took the opening game of the series. Both offenses got off to quick starts in scoring twice in both halves of the second inning. Ariel Ovando’s two-run homer off Tucker Jensen gave the Astros a 2-0 lead. Bluefield rallied to tie it when Lopes scored on a perfectly executed first-and-third delayed double steal and Jacob Anderson followed with an RBI single to score Thon. Anderson led the team with three hits in the loss. Greeneville snatched the lead back when Ernesto Genoves homered in the top of the third inning, but a Lopes three-run double in the bottom half gave the advantage to the Jays at 5-3. Astros righty Michael Feliz struggled in his first Appy League game. He dominated the Gulf Coast League to earn a call-up on Thursday, but he allowed five runs , four earned, in three and two-thirds innings. The Astros tied it once more in the fourth on D’Andre Toney’s two-out two-run bloop single to center field. Greeneville benefited from another two-out dying quail hit in the sixth inning, this one from Brian Blasik off Shane Davis also plated two and made it a 7-5 game. The Baby Jays cut the lead in half on Seth Conner’s RBI single in the sixth, but Christian Lopes was called out on strikes with the bases loaded to end the frame. Thon led off the bottom of the seventh with a dramatic game-tying blast off reliever Andrew Walter and after seven the score was tied at 7-7. The eighth and ninth innings belonged to Bluefield’s Carmona and Greeneville’s Jordan Jankowski, with the Astros reliever winning the duel. The two righties exchanged zeroes in the eighth before Greeneville scratched out the winning tally in the final frame. Ernesto Genoves led off with a walk and moved to third base on Ovando’s chopper over the leaping first baseman Conner. Carmona uncorked a wild pitch that scored Genoves with the go-ahead run. Genoves finished a triple short of the cycle. Carmona (L, 0-3) recovered to strike out the side but it was too late. Jankowski (W, 4-0) struck out Santiago Nessy, Lopes and Thon in order for a perfect ninth to lock down the victory.

VS. THE ASTROS: The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice. In Bluefield on August 3, the Jays scored two in the ninth to force extra innings, but Chase Davidson’s 11th-inning single won it for Greeneville. Bluefield won the middle game before the Astros won the rubber game. In Greeneville from August 22-24, the two teams split the first two contests and the Jays won the third game to win the series and earn a season split.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
 
LHP DANIEL NORRIS: Lefty Daniel Norris, one of the most highly-touted prospects in the Toronto farm system is back on the mound after 12 days off. The rotation has been thrown out of whack with all the rain that has followed the Blue Jays and Norris will pitch for the first time since July 18. That home start against Princeton was his toughest outing of the season as he was tagged for seven hits and five runs in four innings. The 2011 second-round pick was rated by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in the Jays’ entire organization. In 2011 BA ranked him second among high-school prospects and 91st overall. The former Clemson signee struck out 123 batters in 68 innings as a senior at Science Hill HS in his native Johnson City, TN.

RHP DANIEL MINOR: Right-hander Daniel Minor gets the start in the middle game of the series for Greeneville. He last pitched on Tuesday in Burlington, allowing three runs on nine hits in six innings. The 21 year old out of Dripping Springs, Texas was selected by Houston in the ninth round of this year’s draft, the same round that the Blue Jays chose Bluefield first baseman Jordan Leyland. Minor attended Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where he went 10-3 with 110 strikeouts in 110.1 innings as a junior this spring for the Islanders.

WELCOME BACK: Righty Joe Musgrove, who spent the first month of the season with the Baby Jays, returns to Bluefield for the first time since being traded to the Astros on July 20. Toronto and Houston made a ten-player trade that included the 2011 supplemental first-round pick. Musgrove allowed one run on five hits in eight innings of work for the Baby Jays prior to the deal. Joe went to the Astros along with RHP Francisco Cordero, OF Ben Francisco, RHP Asher Wojciechowski, 2011 Bluefielder and LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez and a player to be named later in exchange for RHP Brandon Lyon, LHP J.A. Happ and RHP David Carpenter. Musgrove is scheduled to toss two innings of relief after Minor throws tonight.

THE TERMINATOR: Seth Conner batted cleanup for the first time last night and contributed an RBI single in the sixth inning. He’s been on a tear for the Baby Jays, as he’s 6-for-17 (.353) with a homer, two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored during a five-game hitting streak. On Friday he hit his first Appy League homer, a three-run shot in the top of the first against Princeton ace Blake Snell. The Rogersville, MO native is one game short of equaling his longest hit streak of the season, a six-gamer that was run up from June 30-July 13. The converted third baseman has seen most of his playing time at catcher while Santiago Nessy missed two weeks with a hamstring injury, but with Art Charles called up to Vancouver, Seth has more recently played first base. Conner leads Appy League catchers (min. 60 PA) with a .321 batting average.

DRAWING FIRST BLOOD: Greeneville scored twice in the top of the second inning last night and although the Jays immediately tied the game in the bottom half of that inning, it didn’t bode well for Bluefield. That’s because the Baby Jays are 1-16 (including 13 straight losses) when their opponent scores first. In contrast, Bluefield is 14-4 when they are the first to get on the scoreboard. The only game the Jays have won after allowing the first run was on June 23 against Johnson City in the second home game of the year. The Cardinals scored twice in the top of the first inning, but the Jays rallied and won the game in the tenth inning on Jacob Anderson’s walk-off double.

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-30

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 35: Greeneville Astros at Bluefield Blue Jays

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

ASTROS (21-16)

1 D'Andre Toney DH

2 Marc Wik LF

3 Brian Blasik 3B

4 Ernesto Genoves C

5 Ariel Ovando RF

6 Jean Batista 2B
7 Michael Martinez 1B

8 Jimmy Howick SS

9 Jose Monzon CF

RHP Michael Feliz (First Greeneville start, 5-0, 1.64 in the Gulf Coast League)

BLUE JAYS (15-18)

1 Jorge Vega Rosado DH

2 Eric Arce LF

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Seth Conner 1B

5 Santiago Nessy C

6 Christian Lopes2B

7 Dickie Joe Thon SS

8 Matt Dean 3B

9 Jacob Anderson RF

RHP Tucker Jensen (2-1, 3.51)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 6:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Sorry folks, no broadcast tonight or tomorrow. The third game of the series will be on the air (7:05 first pitch/pregame at 6:50).

WEATHER: 77 degrees with sunny skies, seems hotter

UMPIRES: PLATE Evan Barger  FIELD Ryan Wills

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays reached the halfway point of the season on a sour note. They missed a chance to take command in the Mercer Cup series, falling 8-2 to the rival Princeton Rays at Hunnicutt Field on Saturday. The Rays evened the best-of-11 series at 4-4, making the final head-to-head set on August 7-9 in Princeton a best-of-three for the title. Princeton scored first against lefty Deivy Estrada in the second inning. Willie Argo and Ariel Soriano singled to open the frame and Argo scored from third on a John Alexander grounder. Jorge Vega-Rosado cracked his first Bluefield homer in the top of the third to tie the game, but the second baseman’s error opened the door for a three-run third for Princeton. With two outs and the bases empty, Vega-Rosado airmailed a throw to first to extend the inning. Andrew Toles followed by hitting a ball up the middle that Vega-Rosado fielded and flipped to the covering shortstop at second base, Christian Lopes. Lopes dropped the ball, giving the Rays a fifth out that they took advantage of. Argo singled home a run before Soriano added a two-run double. The Rays took the lead for good against Estrada (L, 2-3), who allowed four runs, one earned, in five innings of work. The Venezuelan southpaw has allowed 31 runs this season, but only 14 have been charged as earned. The visitors got a run back in the fifth inning when Matt Dean led off with a double, moved up on Nico Taylor’s flyout and scored on Jordan Leyland’s groundout. Leyland registered his first run batted in as a Baby Jay. The Rays added two runs in both the sixth and eighth innings. Jays reliever Joe Spano was done in by a bloop single, a walk and two run-scoring infield hits. The first was a perfect squeeze bunt by Oscar Hernandez and the second from James Harris made it a 6-2 game. Colby Broussard allowed two more runs in the eighth that ballooned the lead to six. Rays starter Bruedlin Suero (W, 3-3) held the Jays to two runs on five hits in six innings in beating Estrada and Bluefield for the second time in eight days. William Gabay, Kevin Brandt and Daniel Bream each worked a scoreless relief inning to lock down the win. The Mercer Cup series, which Bluefield won last year to prevent the Rays from retiring the Cup with a third straight win, is now even at four. There are three games left in 2012 between the two clubs and whoever wins two out of three in Princeton August 7-9 will take home the trophy.

VS. THE ASTROS: The Blue Jays and Astros split their six-game season series in 2011, with the road team taking two out of three twice. In Bluefield on August 3, the Jays scored two in the ninth to force extra innings, but Chase Davidson’s 11th-inning single won it for Greeneville. Bluefield won the middle game before the Astros won the rubber game. In Greeneville from August 22-24, the two teams split the first two contests and the Jays won the third game to win the series and earn a season split.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES - 

RHP TUCKER JENSEN: Right-hander Tucker Jensen was brilliant in a twinbill opener at home against Princeton last Saturday. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before allowing an infield single in the fourth inning. That would be the Rays’ only hit of the game as Jensen went six innings and picked up the win in outdueling Princeton ace Blake Snell. Tucker’s WHIP of 0.90 is the fourth-lowest mark among Appy Leaguers that have pitched 25 innings or more. With a 1.40 BB/9 IP ratio he ranks fifth in the circuit. Last year, he allowed 14 earned runs in 11.1 innings in four starts for Bluefield. He excelled in eight Gulf Coast League starts to begin his career, pitching to a 1.77 ERA with an 8.9 K/9 rate to earn a one-game call-up to low-A Lansing. Between three levels he struck out 56 batters in 57 innings of work. A decorated hurler at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, Tucker was named Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2011, also earning NAIA Second-Team All-America honors. The 22-year-old is the grandson of 1958 American League MVP Jackie Jensen.

RHP MICHAEL FELIZ: 18-year-old Michael Feliz makes his first start for Greeneville after dominating the Gulf Coast League. The Azua, Dominican Republic native went 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in  38.1 innings to earn a call-up on Thursday. He was all over the GCL leaderboards, with his league-leading five wins and 38.1 innings, 1.64 ERA and 0.89 WHIP (2nd in the league), 35 strikeouts and .185 batting average against (3rd). Signed by Houston at 16 in 2010, Feliz made three starts in the Dominican Summer League that season, posting a 4.26 ERA. Last year he moved to the States and put up a 4.32 ERA in 50 innings of work in the GCL.

DEAN’S LIST: Blue Jays third baseman Matt Dean kept on punishing Rays pitching last night. With a fifth-inning double he hit safely in all three games in Princeton. He finished the series 7-for-12 with two homers, five RBIs and four runs scored. A 13th-round draft pick last year, Dean was ranked by Baseball America as Toronto’s 11th-best prospect before the 2012 season. He struggled out of the gate in his first 15 games as a professional, hitting only .189. He’s turned it on of late, hitting .341 (14-41) with nine runs scored and nine runs batted in over his last 13 contests.

ROBERT-OH MY: 17-year-old right-hander Roberto Osuna excelled in Bluefield for the first half of the season, putting up a 1.50 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 24 innings to earn a promotion to Short Season-A Vancouver. He made an incredible Northwest League debut for the Canadians last night in Everett. He struck out 13 AquaSox batters and allowed only one hit in five shutout innings. Vancouver was up 6-1 and an out away from the win, but Everett came back with five runs in the ninth and one in the tenth for an incredible win.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION: The Greeneville Astros are the only Appy League team that the Blue Jays have not faced in 2012. The Astros are 21-16 and in second place in the West Division, four and one-half games behind the Elizabethton Twins after dropping two of three to the Twins on the road over the weekend. Greeneville boasts three of the league’s top eight batting averages. 1B Jean Batista ranks fourth in the loop at .328, 2B Brian Blasik is fifth at .320 and RF Ariel Ovando’s .316 mark is eighth. Batista leads the league with 75 total bases and he is tied with Candido Pimentel of Elizabethton for the league lead in hits with 45.

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-29

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 34: Bluefield Blue Jays at Princeton Rays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

MERCER CUP SERIES CONTINUES (BLUEFIELD LEADS 11-GAME SERIES 4-3)

BLUE JAYS (15-18)

1 Jorge Vega Rosado 2B

2 Christian Lopes SS

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Santiago Nessy C

5 Seth Conner 1B

6 Matt Dean 3B

7 Nico Taylor RF

8 Jordan Leyland DH

9 Dennis Jones LF

LHP Deivy Estrada (1-0, 4.23)

RAYS (18-18)

1 Brandon Martin SS

2 Reid Redman DH

3 Andrew Toles CF

4 Willie Argo RF

5 Ariel Soriano 3B

6 John Alexander 1B
7 Oscar Hernandez C

8 Julian Morillo 2B

9 James Harris Jr. LF

LHP Bruedlin Suero (2-3, 5.86)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:50. The games are also carried on local radio on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country

WEATHER: 76 degrees with partly cloudy skies

UMPIRES: PLATE Jeremie Rehak  FIELD Jordan Albarado

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Princeton Rays made six errors in the field and had their ace give up six runs in three innings, but a late comeback gave them a crucial 9-7 win over the Bluefield Blue Jays at Hunnicutt Field on Friday. The Rays scored six runs in the sixth inning to cut Bluefield’s lead in the best-of-11 Mercer Cup series to four games to three. In a matchup of two of the top starters in the Appy League, the game was surprisingly tied at three after the first inning. Seth Conner knocked a three-run homer off lefty Blake Snell for his first homer of the season in the top of the frame. The three Bluefield runs equaled the total number of runs Snell had allowed this year in 32.1 innings. Princeton answered quickly against Jeremy Gabryszwski in the bottom of the first, putting the first three men on, including a game-tying three-run shot from Andrew Toles. The Jays took the lead back in the second when Jacob Anderson took advantage of a Toles miscue in center field and raced home from third to put Bluefield ahead again 4-3. Matt Dean, 4-for-4 with his first pro homer a night before, added a two-run opposite-field blast in the third inning to make it a 6-3 game. Snell was knocked out after the third, allowing six runs, five earned, on six hits. Gabryszwski settled in after the rocky opening frame, retiring seven straight before a leadoff single and one-out double in the fourth put him in a jam. With two in scoring position with only one out, the righty struck out Darryl George before setting down James Harris on a groundout to escape trouble. In five innings, the Bluefield starter allowed only the three first-inning runs, two of which were earned. Princeton won the battle of the bullpens as things fell apart for the Jays with Gabryszwski out of the game. In the sixth, Denny Valdez allowed a two-run homer to Ariel Soriano that let the Rays back in it and cut the advantage to 6-5. After a one-out single and walk, Brandon Dorsett was summoned from the pen and induced a grounder that was booted at short by Christian Lopes. Brandon Martin followed with a bases-loaded triple that put the home team in front 8-6. Martin came home on a Reid Redman sacrifice fly as the Rays batted around. Valdez allowed four runs in one third of an inning and Dorsett allowed a pair of unearned tallies. In relief of Snell, the quartet of Alex Keudell, Randy Davis, Zach Butler and Nick Sawyer worked the final six innings and allowed only an unearned run on one hit. Davis set down six of seven and picked up the win after the Princeton comeback. The Blue Jays scored on a pair of errors in the seventh against Butler, but he worked around Conner’s leadoff double in the eighth to keep it at 9-7. A walk and error put the tying runs at second and third in the ninth, but Sawyer struck out Santiago Nessy to end the game.

VS. THE RAYS: The Blue Jays won three of the first five games in this year’s Mercer Cup series. The Rays and Jays split two one-run games in Bluefield before the third game was rained out. Jeremy Gabryszwski and Griffin Murphy combined for a shutout in Princeton on Friday, then the two clubs split a doubleheader at Bowen Field on Saturday. The Blue Jays defeated Princeton in seven of 11 games last year to win the Mercer Cup. They took three of four in Princeton from June 30 to July 3 before dropping a July 4 meeting at home, 5-4. Princeton won two of three at Bowen Field at the end of July in a set that included a doubleheader split. So the Mercer Cup was tied 4-4 with three games to play in Bluefield on August 9-11. The Jays won 6-2, then Deivy Estrada pitched five shutout innings the next night to win the clincher and keep the Rays from retiring the Cup.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
ESTRADA: Valencia, Venezuela native Deivy Estrada starts this crucial Mercer Cup game tonight. He allowed three runs on five hits in four innings of work in a loss to Princeton on Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader. The southpaw had held opponents to one earned run or none in his previous four starts. Estrada potsed a 2.25 ERA in the GCL in 2011, but he had an ERA of 6.94 in Bluefield upon his promotion. He did contribute the clinching victory in the Mercer Cup last year, turning in five shutout innings on August 10. He allowed only four hits, striking out six without walking a man. He took a tough loss in the final game of the Appy League Championship Series when he gave up one earned run in five innings, but he took the defeat. He spent the 2010 season in the GCL and was in the DSL in 2009 when he K’d more than one batter per inning (48 in 44 IP).

SUERO: Dominican Southpaw Bruedlin Suero is coming off his best outing of 2012, and it came in a win against Estrada and the Blue Jays in a twinbill finale on Saturday. The lefty limited Bluefield to an unearned run and two hits in five innings as he recorded the victory. He pitched to an 8.66 ERA through his first five games. The 22-year-old from Santo Domingo was signed by the Rays in 2008 and spent last year in the GCL, registering a 2.63 ERA. In two-plus seasons in the DSL from 2009-11, he put up a 3.13 ERA.

DEAN’S LIST: Blue Jays third baseman Matt Dean kept up his production last night. A day after setting a new 2012 team high with four hits and knocking his first professional home run, he hit another opposite-field blast, a two-run shot in the third inning off Princeton ace Blake Snell. A 13th-round draft pick last year, Dean was ranked by Baseball America as Toronto’s 11th-best prospect before the 2012 season. He struggled out of the gate in his first 15 games as a professional, hitting only .189. He’s turned it on of late, hitting .324 (12-37) with eight runs scored and nine runs batted in over his last 12 contests.

SWING GAME: Last night, the Blue Jays missed an opportunity to set themselves up for a sweep and Mercer-Cup clinching victory tonight, now Princeton is back in the series. Bluefield still leads 4-3 and with a win in tonight’s rubber game, would only need to win one of the three remaining games against Princeton (August 7-9 at Princeton) to keep the Cup. However, if Princeton wins tonight, it would make the August series a best-of-three set for the title with the Rays holding home-field advantage.

GABBY ROAD: Bluefield right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski had his streak of ten and two-thirds scoreless innings snapped last night, but he still had a fine start. Up 3-0 before he threw a pitch in the first inning, he gave the lead back to the first three batters on a single, an error behind him and three-run homer. He recovered to retire eight of nine and seven straight to get through the fourth. He pitched five innings for the third straight outing, allowing only the three first-inning runs, two of which were earned. He stood to get the win before the bullpen squandered the lead. “Gabby” lowered his ERA to 1.86 (third-lowest among qualified Appy League pitchers) and his WHIP sank to 0.93 (second best).


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-28

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 33: Bluefield Blue Jays at Princeton Rays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

MERCER CUP SERIES CONTINUES (BLUEFIELD LEADS 11-GAME SERIES 4-2)

BLUE JAYS (15-17)

1 Jorge Vega Rosado 2B

2 Christian Lopes SS

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Santiago Nessy C

5 Seth Conner 1B

6 Matt Dean 3B

7 Dickie Joe Thon DH

8 Jacob Anderson RF

9 Nico Taylor LF

RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski (1-0, 1.50)

RAYS (17-18)

1 Brandon Martin SS

2 Reid Redman 2B

3 Andrew Toles CF

4 Willie Argo RF

5 Ariel Soriano DH

6 John Alexander 1B
7 Oscar Hernandez C

8 Darryl George 3B

9 James Harris Jr. LF

LHP Blake Snell (3-1, 0.84)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:50. The games are also carried on local radio on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country

WEATHER: 77and partly cloudy. We had a huge storm roll through in the early afternoon, but it's long gone

UMPIRES: PLATE Jordan Albarado  FIELD Jeremie Rehak

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays turned what was a tight game for five innings into a laugher. Matt Dean belted his first professional home run in the fifth inning to start a 4-for-4 night in which he drove in three and scored twice in the Jays’ 9-2 win over the rival Princeton Rays at Hunnicutt Field on Thursday. Bluefield leads the best-of-11 Mercer Cup series four games to two. The two sides exchanged unearned runs in the first inning. Christian Lopes scored for the Jays in the top half on an interference error by third baseman Daniel Duran. Princeton evened the score in the bottom half when Brandon Martin reached on a Dean throwing error and scored on Ariel Soriano’s groundout. Bluefield starter Kevin Comer cruised along after the first, retiring nine in a row and 11 of 12. The Rays rallied against him after Dean’s homer and tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Duran. Princeton was poised to take the lead when they loaded the bases with only one out, but Comer struck out Andrew Toles and set down Soriano on a fly out to preserve the tie. The Jays busted out in the sixth inning with a four-run rally ignited by Santiago Nessy’s homer, his fourth of the season. Everything else came with two outs against lefty Chris Kirsch. Seth Conner singled and Jacob Anderson was hit by a pitch. Dean singled to score Anderson before Dennis Jones, making his Bluefield debut after a call-up from the Gulf Coast League, doubled in two runs to make it a 6-2 game. Bluefield wasn’t done as they scored two more in the eighth on an RBI double from Anderson and another run-scoring hit from Dean. They tacked on one more in the ninth on a Dwight Smith Jr. ground out. The Anderson-Dean-Jones bottom third of the lineup combined to go 6-for-11 with a homer, two doubles, six runs batted in and four runs scored. Griffin Murphy was brilliant again in relief for the Baby Jays. Just as he did on Friday night, the southpaw worked a scoreless sixth, seventh and eighth with three strikeouts. Julio Carmona pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth to finish the game.

VS. THE RAYS: The Blue Jays won three of the first five games in this year’s Mercer Cup series. The Rays and Jays split two one-run games in Bluefield before the third game was rained out. Jeremy Gabryszwski and Griffin Murphy combined for a shutout in Princeton on Friday, then the two clubs split a doubleheader at Bowen Field on Saturday. The Blue Jays defeated Princeton in seven of 11 games last year to win the Mercer Cup. They took three of four in Princeton from June 30 to July 3 before dropping a July 4 meeting at home, 5-4. Princeton won two of three at Bowen Field at the end of July in a set that included a doubleheader split. So the Mercer Cup was tied 4-4 with three games to play in Bluefield on August 9-11. The Jays won 6-2, then Deivy Estrada pitched five shutout innings the next night to win the clincher and keep the Rays from retiring the Cup.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP JEREMY GABRYSZWSKI: It was deja vu for right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski on Friday. After shutting out the Twins on four hits in a season-high five innings in his previous start, the 19-year-old out of Crosby, TX did it again at Princeton on Friday. He teamed with lefty reliever Griffin Murphy on a five-hit shutout in a critical Mercer Cup game. He was taken in the second round of last year’s draft, splitting time between the Gulf Coast League and Bluefield. After four and one-third scoreless innings in three GCL games, Gabryszwski moved up to the Appy League on August 29, turning in a shutout inning of relief at Danville. He relieved twice in the postseason for the Jays, allowing two runs in four and two-thirds innings. A graduate of Crosby High School, he had committed to play college ball at Lamar before signing with Toronto.

LHP BLAKE SNELL: In a pairing of two of the Appalachian League’s best pitchers, 19-year-old left-hander Blake Snell gets the ball for Princeton. He ranks second in the circuit in ERA (0.84) and batting average against (.157) while his 0.87 WHIP is fourth-best. Burlington southpaw Colin Rodgers leads in all three categories with eye-popping numbers (0.73, .113, 0.65). In 32.1 innings he has struck out 36 batters, five off the league lead. Snell faced the Jays in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, tossing five shutout innings while striking out six and allowing only three hits. He was matched zero-for-zero by Tucker Jensen before Bluefield rallied against the bullpen to win it. With eight and two-thirds shutout innings of one-hit ball and 13 strikeouts over his first two games in 2012, he earned Appy League Pitcher of the Week honors. He was home-schooled until his senior year at Shorewood High School in Washington, when he posted a 1.00 ERA and 118 K’s in 56 innings. That made him Tampa Bay’s supplemental first-round pick in 2011, 52nd overall and one ahead of Bluefield CF Dwight Smith Jr. He went 1-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 26.1 innings in the Gulf Coast League last year.

DEAN’S LIST: Bluefield third baseman Matt Dean broke out in a big way in last night’s win. He set a new 2012 team high with four hits, including his first professional home run, and knocked in a career-high three runs. After a second-inning single, the Highland Village, Texas native belted an opposite-field, tie-breaking solo homer in the fifth. Up 3-2 in the next inning, he singled home Seth Conner during a key two-out rally. He delivered another two-out run-scoring hit in the eighth that helped put the game out of reach. A 13th-round draft pick last year, Dean was ranked by Baseball America as Toronto’s 11th-best prospect before the 2012 season. He struggled out of the gate in his first 15 games as a professional, hitting only .189. He’s turned it on of late, hitting .333 (11-33) with seven runs scored and seven runs batted in over his last 11 contests.

WELCOME ABOARD: Two players saw their first action as a Bluefield Blue Jay in last night’s win. Left fielder Dennis Jones was called up from the Gulf Coast League on Saturday and after starting 0-for-2 last night, he stroked a key two-out two-run double into the left field corner to give Bluefield a 6-2 lead. Jones was a 20th-round selection in this June’s draft out of Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. He got on base at a .365 clip in 17 games in the GCL to earn his call-up to the Appy League. The other new addition is first baseman Jordan Leyland, a ninth-round pick in this year’s draft. He swapped places with Art Charles, who was called up to Short Season-A Vancouver. He played first and batted fifth in his first Bluefield game last night, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.


Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-27

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 32: Bluefield Blue Jays at Princeton Rays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

MERCER CUP SERIES CONTINUES (BLUEFIELD LEADS 11-GAME SERIES 3-2)

BLUE JAYS (14-17)

1 Dickie Joe Thon SS

2 Christian Lopes 2B

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Santiago Nessy C

5 Jordan Leyland 1B

6 Seth Conner DH

7 Jacob Anderson RF

8 Matt Dean 3B

9 Dennis Jones LF

RHP Kevin Comer (2-1, 4.88)

RAYS (17-17)

1 Brandon Martin SS

2 Reid Redman 2B

3 Andrew Toles CF

4 Ariel Soriano LF

5 Willie Argo RF

6 John Alexander 1B
7 Oscar Hernandez C

8 Omar Narvaez DH

9 Daniel Duran 3B

LHP Kevin James (1-1, 3.92)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:50. The games are also carried on local radio on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country

WEATHER: 85 with no rain in the forecast?! What planet is this?! 

UMPIRES: PLATE Jeremie Rehak  FIELD Jordan Albarado

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: After the Blue Jays took the series opener from the Braves 8-6 on Sunday, the second game of the set was rained out Monday. The two teams tried to finish the series with a doubleheader on Tuesday, but rain forced another postponement. With that being the Braves’ final trip to Bluefield, the games will be made up when the Jays visit Danville from August 17-19.

VS. THE BRAVES: The Blue Jays won three of the first five games in this year’s Mercer Cup series. The Rays and Jays split two one-run games in Bluefield before the third game was rained out. Jeremy Gabryszwski and Griffin Murphy combined for a shutout in Princeton on Friday, then the two clubs split a doubleheader at Bowen Field on Saturday. The Blue Jays defeated Princeton in seven of 11 games last year to win the Mercer Cup. They took three of four in Princeton from June 30 to July 3 before dropping a July 4 meeting at home, 5-4. Princeton won two of three at Bowen Field at the end of July in a set that included a doubleheader split. So the Mercer Cup was tied 4-4 with three games to play in Bluefield on August 9-11. The Jays won 6-2, then Deivy Estrada pitched five shutout innings the next night to win the clincher and keep the Rays from retiring the Cup.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP KEVIN COMER: Baseball America’s 17th-ranked Blue Jays prospect aims to get back on track. Righty Kevin Comer pitched to a 2.25 ERA in his first three professional appearances, but in his last three he has allowed ten earned runs in 12 innings (7.50 ERA). Last Tuesday against Princeton, he tossed four and one-third innings of relief, allowing four runs (three earned). He came two outs short of finishing the game, but still recorded the victory in the Mercer Cup opener. He was a supplemental first-round pick (57th overall) in 2011 after Miguel Olivo signed with Seattle. After the Shamong, NJ native pitched his Seneca HS team to the Group 3 state championship, the Blue Jays bought Comer out of his commitment to Vanderbilt with a $1.65 million signing bonus. Baseball America says the right-hander has “a clean arm action and delivery, and he gets good angle to his pitches.” They added that he has a “live fastball that generally sits around (91-93).” He also throws a curve that “some scouts think will be a plus pitch in time.”

LHP KEVIN JAMES: Six-foot-four southpaw Kevin James draws another series-opening start against Bluefield as he opposed Roberto Osuna in the first Mercer Cup contest last Tuesday. He allowed a leadoff double to Jorge Vega-Rosado, stranded him at third with strikeouts of Santiago Nessy and Art Charles, but left the game after one inning due to a cut on his pitching hand. In his last full start on July 12, he picked up the win at Danville with five shutout innings. James was chosen by the Rays in the ninth round of the 2009 draft out of Whitefish Bay HS in Wisconsin, where he was named the state’s Player of the Year by Louisville Slugger and the state’s top prospect by Baseball America. After two brief stints in the Gulf Coast League in 2009 and 2010, he moved up to Princeton in 2011 and posted a 7.91 ERA in 11 relief outings. One of those was against Bluefield on June 30, 2011 in which he allowed five runs (four earned) in three and two-thirds innings.

MOVE ON UP: The Blue Jays have promoted Bluefield’s top slugger and pitcher. Both first baseman Art Charles and 17-year-old righty Roberto Osuna have been sent up to Short Season-A Vancouver. Charles leads the team in homers (six), triples (three), runs (18), OBP (.459), SLG (.576) and OPS (1.035). His OBP and 32 walks lead the circuit, he ranks fourth in sluggling and his OPS is second only to Elizabethton’s Romy Jimenez. The Bakersfield, CA native led the Appy League with 61 RBIs in Bluefield last season. Osuna wowed as a Baby Jay, pitching to a 1.50 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 24 innings in his first professional action in the U.S.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY: The Blue Jays have been rained out on back-to-back nights, throwing the schedule into disarray. They will play doubleheaders on consecutive days in Danville on August 17 and 18. Two days later, they’ll host another twinbill against the Pulaski Mariners to make up for a July 3 postponement. A week earlier, on August 10, the Jays will complete the July 9 game against Burlington that was suspended due to rain with Bluefield ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Bristol and Pulaski also had their doubleheader washed out last night, as was yesterday’s Cardinals-Rays series finale in Princeton. This week marks the first time that Bluefield has dealt with back-to-back rainouts since 2010 when they were a Baltimore affiliate. They were rained out on August 17 in Princeton, then after a scheduled off day their home date against Bristol was also postponed.

MILESTONE WATCH: Blue Jays manager Dennis Holmberg is closing in on his 1,300th win in professional baseball. Over 25 seasons as a minor league skipper, he has a career record of 1,295-1,199. After eight seasons as a third baseman/outfielder in the Milwaukee system he began his managerial career at age 25 in 1977 with the Newark Co-Pilots, the Brewers’ farm team in the New York-Penn League. He then joined the Blue Jays in 1978 as a minor league instructor and has been with the organization ever since. He has spent 24 seasons as a manager and eight as a coach in the Toronto system. He also spent the 1994 and 1995 seasons as the bullpen coach for the big league club. Holmberg has piloted ten playoff teams, including last year’s Appy League runner-up in Bluefield. It was Bluefield’s first postseason tirp since 2002. From 2002 to 2007 his Auburn Doubledays made six straight postseasons, including a New York-Penn League championship run in ‘07.

BROWN OUT: Side-winding righty Wil Browning pitched the ninth inning on Sunday and struck out the first two batters out swinging. He also whiffed Aris Alcantara, but the third strike was a wild pitch that extended the game. Josh Elander blooped a single to cut the Bluefield lead to 8-6, but Browning struck out Felix Marte to lock down the win for Bluefield. With four strikeouts in a one-inning save, Browning did something that has only been done three times in the major leagues. Mark Wholers (1995 ATL), Derek Wallace (1996 NYM) and Kaz Sasaki (2003 SEA) have turned the trick in the bigs.

Pregame Audio - Outfielder and Naval Academy grad Alex Azor, who will be leaving the club on Sunday to continue his commitment as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps: 

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-26

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 31: Danville Braves at Bluefield Blue Jays

Sadly there is no broadcast tonight...check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

BRAVES (18-13)

1 Jose Peraza DH

2 Ronald Luna SS

3 Carlos Franco 3B

4 Aris Alcantara 1B

5 Josh Elander C

6 Felix Marte RF

7 Blake Brown CF

8 Edison Sanchez LF

9 Levi Hyams 2B

RHP Mauricio Cabrera (1-2, 2.22)

BLUE JAYS (13-17)

1 Alex Azor LF

2 Christian Lopes 2B

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Santiago Nessy C

5 Art Charles 1B

6 Jacob Anderson RF

7 Eric Arce DH

8 Dickie Joe Thon SS

9 Matt Dean 3B

RHP Roberto Osuna (1-0, 0.90)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 6:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: We are on WHIS 1440/1470 AM and WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster tonight. Listen live right here for to tune in online.

WEATHER: 87 and clear.

UMPIRES: PLATE Morgan Day  FIELD Travis Godec

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Bluefield Blue Jays were nearly unhittable, and they settled for a second straight shutout. An infield single was the only thing separating Tucker Jensen and Brandon Dorsett from history as the two combined for a one-hitter of the Princeton Rays in a twinbill opener at Bowen Field. The Jays won 2-0 before losing the finale 4-2; they lead the 11-game Mercer Cup set 3-2. Jensen retired the first 11 batters he faced in game one, before Andrew Toles reached on an infield single to shortstop Christian Lopes. Lopes had to trek deep in the hole and make a backhand grab, and Toles was too quick and beat the throw. Jensen (W, 2-1) shook it off and set down seven of eight to finish his night. The righty worked six shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out five. Dorsett (S, 1) posted a 1-2-3 seventh to complete the Bluefield gem. The game was a brilliant duel between Jensen and Princeton starter and Appy League ERA leader Blake Snell. Snell pitched five scoreless frames and held the Jays to three hits, striking out six without issuing a walk. Snell was replaced by Jonathan Weaver (L, 0-2) in the sixth and Bluefield quickly took advantage. Jacob Anderson rocked a solo homer to lead off the inning to break the deadlock and register his first long ball of the season. The Jays added a run on Santiago Nessy’s RBI groundout. After 19 consecutive shutout innings, Princeton finally plated a run off Bluefield pitching in the first inning of the nightcap. The rally started innocently enough when Toles reached on a two-out infield single against Deivy Estrada. Willie Argo followed with one of his own and Toles, who never let up coming around third base, scored when Argo beat the throw. The Jays tied it in the second when Nessy led off with a double, moved up on shortstop Brandon Martin’s throwing error and scored on Anderson’s sacrifice fly. Rays lefty Bruedlin Suero (W, 2-3) allowed only one hit through the rest of his five-inning start. Martin atoned for his miscue in the field when he led off the next inning with a home run to take the lead right back. Ariel Soriano followed with a double and came home on an Argo sacrifice fly. Estrada (L, 2-2) surrendered three runs on five hits in four innings. Argo added a solo homer off reliever Denny Valdez in the sixth inning to make it a 4-1 game. Bluefield made a brief charge late against closer Zach Butler. With two outs in the seventh and final frame, Eric Arce knocked a pinch-hit single. Dennis Holmberg went to his bench again to regular first baseman Art Charles. Charles hit a long fly to center field that Toles could not grab and motored into third with an RBI triple. With the tying run at the plate, Butler (S, 6) struck out Jorge Vega-Rosado swinging to end the game and net the Rays a doubleheader split.

VS. THE BRAVES: The Baby Jays won the first head-to-head matchup on July 4th 4-2 on Santiago Nessy’s home run, but they fell 8-6 and 13-3 to lose the three-game home series. Nico Taylor and Eric Arce both notched five hits in three games against Danville, but Felix Marte mashed for the Braves in Bluefield, hitting three home runs and driving in nine runs. The Blue Jays lost the season series to Danville in 2011, but they got the last laugh when they won the East Division title by a game after a great pennant race. Bluefield was swept in three games in the Bowen Field-opening series from June 24-26, but took two of three at Danville from July 8-10. The two teams were tied atop the division at 38-27 heading into the final three games of the season at Danville. The Baby Jays routed the Braves 11-4 on August 28, then clinched the title the next night when five pitchers combined on a three-hitter in a 5-1 win. Danville won the inconsequential finale 19-4, but it was the Jays who playoff bound for the first time since 2002.

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
 
RHP ROBERTO OSUNA: Coming into the season ranked 30th on Baseball America’s list of the top Toronto prospects, Osuna has been brilliant this season. With four scoreless innings against Princeton on Tuesday, he lowered his ERA to 0.90, the third-lowest mark in the league among pitchers with at least 20 innings. His 0.95 WHIP is seventh-best in the circuit. Only 17 years old, this right-hander was signed out of the Mexican League, which is considered to be similar to a AA or AAA level of play. Although he put up a 5.49 ERA in 19.2 innings for the Diablos Rojos, it’s worth noting that many players in that league are 10-20 years older than him. His fastball consistently sat in the low 90s last weekend, though he got it up to 93-94. Roberto’s uncle Antonio was a reliever for 11 major league seasons, mostly spent with the Dodgers.

RHP MAURICIO CABRERA: 18-year-old righty Mauricio Cabrera has been off to a fine start in 2012 and he gets the ball in the first game of the series. His 2.22 ERA ranks seventh in the league and his .186 batting average against is fourth. The native of Las Matas de Farfan in the Dominican Republic allowed an unearned run on three hits in five innings, striking out five in a win over Pulaski on Monday. He took the loss at Bluefield on the Fourth of July, allowing three runs in four and one-third innings. He went 1-5 with a 4.30 ERA in 52.1 innings with the Dominican Summer League Braves in 2011.

TUCKER-ED OUT: Tucker Jensen dominated the Rays in the opener of the doubleheader on Saturday, tossing six shutout frames and allowing only an infield single. He struck out five and lowered his WHIP to 0.90, the fifth-best mark in the league. He dropped his ERA to 3.51, which took a big hit thanks to one rough inning in Elizabethton last Monday. He gave up seven runs in that frame, but in his other 24.2 innings, he has allowed only three runs (1.09 ERA).

BIG BLAST: With the first game of yesterday’s twinbill still scoreless in the sixth inning, Jacob Anderson cracked his first home run of the year to give the Jays the win. Anderson was on a 5-for-5 roll before going 0-for-2 with a sac fly in the nightcap.

NO FREE PASSES: Among those with 20 innings pitched, the Blue Jays boast four of the ten best walk rates in the Appy League. Jeremy Gabryszwski ranks fourth (3.5%) and Tucker Jensen (3.8%) is fifth. At 5.1 percent, Roberto Osuna and Kevin Comer, the next two starters for Bluefield, are tied for eighth with Tuesday’s opponent Williams Perez.

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-22

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Games 29 and 30: Princeton Rays at Bluefield Blue Jays

DOUBLEHEADER

Sadly there is no broadcast tonight...check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

RAYS (15-15) Game One

1 Brandon Martin SS

2 Oscar Hernandez C

3 Andrew Toles CF

4 Willie Argo RF

5 Reid Redman 2B

6 John Alexander 1B
7 Darryl George 3B

8 Chad Nacapoy DH

9 Ismel Antunez LF

Game One: LHP Blake Snell (3-1, 0.99)

Game Two: LHP Bruedlin Suero (1-3, 7.15)

* The game notes have Suero/Snell as the twinbill starters

BLUE JAYS (12-16) Game One

1 Jorge Vega-Rosado 2B

2 Christian Lopes SS

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Santiago Nessy C

5 Art Charles 1B

6 Matt Dean 3B

7 Seth Conner DH

8 Nico Taylor LF

9 Jacob Anderson RF

Game One: RHP Tucker Jensen (1-1, 4.58)

Game Two: LHP Deivy Estrada (2-1, 3.80)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 5:00 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Sorry folks, no broadcasts on this homestand

WEATHER: 79 and overcast 

UMPIRES: PLATE Troy Hodack  FIELD Nick Garvey

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: Jeremy Gabryszwski and Griffin Murphy dominated on the hill and Mother Nature finished the job. The Bluefield Blue Jays shut down the Princeton Rays 2-0 at Hunnicutt Field in Princeton to take a 2-1 lead in the Mercer Cup. Gabryszwski’s five shutout innings were followed by Murphy’s three zeroes before rain ended the game in the bottom of the ninth. The Rays could not even muster a threat against Bluefield pitching. Gabryszwski (W, 1-0) allowed a leadoff double in the first inning and a two-out double in the fourth, but those were the only times Princeton had a runner in scoring position against the righty. He allowed four hits and struck out two without walking a batter in recording his first win of the season, lowering his ERA to 1.50. Murphy (S, 1) picked up right where Gabryszwski left off and set down nine of the ten men he faced to get through the eighth. He struck out three and was credited with the save. Bluefield worked their way onto the scoreboard quickly in the top of the first against starter Jacob Faria. Alex Azor led off the game with an infield single and Dwight Smith singled two batters later. Art Charles walked to fill the bases before Faria uncorked a wild pitch to plate Azor. Faria (L, 1-2) lasted only one inning before being replaced by Kevin Brandt. Brandt struck out nine in four shutout innings and William Gabay and Daniel Bream kept it a 1-0 game until the ninth. The Jays notched an insurance run against Joan Guerrero in the final inning. Jacob Anderson doubled to start the frame for his third hit of the game. Azor bunted him over to third and then, when catcher Oscar Hernandez’s pickoff throw to third was errant, Anderson scored. In between the top and bottom of the ninth, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour came down on the Princeton field. After a delay, the field was so drenched that the game was called.

VS. THE RAYS: The Blue Jays defeated Princeton in seven of 11 games last year to win the Mercer Cup. They took three of four in Princeton from June 30 to July 3 before dropping a July 4 meeting at home, 5-4. Princeton won two of three at Bowen Field at the end of July in a set that included a doubleheader split. So the Mercer Cup was tied 4-4 with three games to play in Bluefield on August 9-11. The Jays won 6-2, then Deivy Estrada pitched five shutout innings the next night to win the clincher and keep the Rays from retiring the Cup.
 
- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -

RHP TUCKER JENSEN: Right-hander Tucker Jensen looks to rebound from a rough second inning in Elizabethton on Monday. He pitched a perfect first, third and fourth inning, but in that second frame, he allowed seven runs, including a Max Kepler grand slam, in an 8-0 loss. The Ormond Beach, FL native has a 1.72 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, both are ninth among Appy League pitchers with at least 15 IP. Last year, he allowed 14 earned runs in 11.1 innings in four starts for Bluefield. He excelled in eight Gulf Coast League starts to begin his career, pitching to a 1.77 ERA with an 8.9 K/9 rate to earn a one-game call-up to low-A Lansing. Between three levels he struck out 56 batters in 57 innings of work. A decorated hurler at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, Tucker was named Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2011, also earning NAIA Second-Team All-America honors. The 22-year-old is the grandson of 1958 American League MVP Jackie Jensen.

LHP BRUEDLIN SUERO: Dominican Southpaw Bruedlin Suero is coming off his best outing of 2012. He held the Royals to one one on five hits in a five-inning victory on Sunday. He pitched to an 8.66 ERA through his first five games. The 22-year-old from Santo Domingo was signed by the Rays in 2008 and spent last year in the GCL, registering a 2.63 ERA. In two-plus seasons in the DSL from 2009-11, he put up a 3.13 ERA.

LHP DEIVY ESTRADA: Valencia, Venezuela native Deivy Estrada has lowered his ERA in each of his five outings since his 2012 debut. He allowed five runs, only one earned, in three and two-thirds innings in Monday’s twinbill finale in Elizabethton. The southpaw has held opponents to one earned run or none in his last four starts. Estrada potsed a 2.25 ERA in the GCL in 2011, but he had an ERA of 6.94 in Bluefield upon his promotion. He did contribute the clinching victory in the Mercer Cup last year, turning in five shutout innings on August 10. He allowed only four hits, striking out six without walking a man. He took a tough loss in the final game of the Appy League Championship Series when he gave up one earned run in five innings, but he took the defeat. He spent the 2010 season in the GCL and was in the DSL in 2009 when he K’d more than one batter per inning (48 in 44 IP).

LHP BLAKE SNELL: 19-year-old left-hander Blake Snell has been perhaps the Appalachian League’s best pitcher in 2012. He leads the circuit with a miniscule 0.99 ERA and his 0.91 WHIP ranks fourth. As opponents have only hit .154 against him, he is the hardest pitcher to get a hit off of in the loop. In 27.1 innings he has struck out 30 batters, six off the league lead. With eight and two-thirds shutout innings of one-hit ball and 13 strikeouts over his first two games in 2012, he earned Appy League Pitcher of the Week honors. He was home-schooled until his senior year at Shorewood High School in Washington, when he posted a 1.00 ERA and 118 K’s in 56 innings. That made him Tampa Bay’s supplemental first-round pick in 2011, 52nd overall and one ahead of Bluefield CF Dwight Smith Jr. He went 1-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 26.1 innings in the Gulf Coast League last year.

BOOM AND POUND ONCE I SHUT ‘EM DOWN: The duo of Jeremy Gabryszwski and Griffin Murphy kept the Rays’ bats at bay in Friday’s win, combining for a five-hit eight-inning shutout. Gabryszwski tossed five scoreless frames of four-hit ball for the second straight start. He lowered his ERA to 1.50 (3rd-lowest in the league) and his WHIP to 0.88 (second-lowest in the circuit). Murphy hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last three games (8 IP).

YOU SHALL NOT PASS: The Blue Jays have been the best team in the Appy League at throwing out potential base stealers. The trio of Santiago Nessy, Seth Conner and Hector Alvarez has gunned down 15 out of 33 runners (45.5 %) to lead the circuit.

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-21

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

Game 28: Bluefield Blue Jays at Princeton Rays

Listen live right here and check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

BLUE JAYS (11-16)

1 Alex Azor LF

2 Jorge Vega-Rosado 2B

3 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

4 Art Charles 1B

5 Santiago Nessy C

6 Eric Arce DH

7 Dickie Joe Thon SS

8 Matt Dean 3B

9 Jacob Anderson RF

RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-0, 1.89)

RAYS (15-14)

1 Brandon Martin SS

2 Oscar Hernandez C

3 Andrew Toles CF

4 Willie Argo RF

5 Reid Redman 2B

6 John Alexander 1B
7 Omar Narvaez DH

8 Daniel Duran 3B

9 James Harris LF

RHP Jacob Faria (1-1, 5.82)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:05 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:50. The games are also carried on local radio on WKEZ 1240 AM The Rooster Classic Country

WEATHER: 77 with some rain in the forecast...of course 

UMPIRES: PLATE Nick Garvey  FIELD Troy Hodack

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The third game of the Mercer Cup series between Bluefield and Princeton was rained out on Thursday. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader at Bowen Field on Saturday at 5 p.m.

VS. THE RAYS: The Blue Jays defeated Princeton in seven of 11 games last year to win the Mercer Cup. They took three of four in Princeton from June 30 to July 3 before dropping a July 4 meeting at home, 5-4. Princeton won two of three at Bowen Field at the end of July in a set that included a doubleheader split. So the Mercer Cup was tied 4-4 with three games to play in Bluefield on August 9-11. The Jays won 6-2, then Deivy Estrada pitched five shutout innings the next night to win the clincher and keep the Rays from retiring the Cup. 

- TONIGHT’S PITCHING PROBABLES -
 
RHP JEREMY GABRYSZWSKI: The 19-year-old righty out of Crosby, TX is off to an outstanding start in 2012. He shut out the Twins in Elizabethton for five innings on Monday, allowing only four hits and striking out a season-high four. His 1.89 ERA ranks tenth among pitchers with at least 19 IP and his 0.89 WHIP ranks fourth, all despite a K/9 rate (4.26) that is the third-lowest in the league. He was taken in the second round of last year’s draft, splitting time between the Gulf Coast League and Bluefield. After four and one-third scoreless innings in three GCL games, Gabryszwski moved up to the Appy League on August 29, turning in a shutout inning of relief at Danville. He relieved twice in the postseason for the Jays, allowing two runs in four and two-thirds innings. A graduate of Crosby High School, he had committed to play college ball at Lamar before signing with Toronto.

RHP JACOB FARIA: Right-hander Jacob Faria goes for Princeton tonight. He allowed one run on two hits in a two-inning start his last time out on Friday in Danville. A tenth-round pick in last year’s draft out of Gahr High School in Cerritos, CA, he spent the 2011 season in the Gulf Coast League, pitching to a 2.87 ERA in 15.2 innings. The La Palma, CA native had committed to Cal State-Fullerton before signing with the Rays.

MERCER CUP: The summer of 2012 will feature another exciting edition of Minor League Baseball’s greatest rivalry. The Bluefield Blue Jays and Princeton Rays are separated by only 12 miles and for the past 20 seasons these Appalachian League foes have played for the Mercer Cup , a five-foot trophy that also grants the winner bragging rights for the next 12 months. The Mercer Cup dates back to 1992, when Princeton was an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Reds General Manager Jim Holland came up with the idea to award the massive trophy to the winner of the 11-game season series between the Mercer County neighbors. A local trophy maker wanted to get involved with the Princeton team and Holland dreamt up the idea of the Cup and teamed up with then Bluefield GM George McGonagle to make it happen. Of the first 20 sets, Bluefield has won 11 series and Princeton has won eight. The 1994 series ended in a tie, but Bluefield kept the Cup. An interesting wrinkle of the Mercer Cup is that when one city wins three years in a row, that trophy is retired for them to keep and a new one is put into circulation. Bluefield retired Cups in 1995 and 2001 and Princeton turned the trick in 2007. In 2011, Princeton was aiming to retire the Cup again after winning in 2009 and 2010. After a 4-4 split of the first eight games, Bluefield, in their first season under the Blue Jays’ umbrella, swept the final three games to take back the Cup. July 17 marks the continuation of the rivalry, which has continued through affiliation changes, which include Princeton’s switch from the Reds to the Devil Rays in 1997 and Bluefield’s change from the Orioles to the Blue Jays in 2011. Whether it’s at Bowen Field in Bluefield or up Route 19 at Hunnicutt Field in Princeton, this Mercer County battle for bragging rights transcends the Appy League season and gives this community a unique baseball tradition.

TRADING PLACES: The Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros made a ten-player trade on Friday, one of whom was a Bluefield Blue Jay. Right-hander Joe Musgrove, a supplemental first-round pick in 2011 who allowed one run on five hits in eight innings of work for the Baby Jays, was included in the deal. Toronto acquired RHP Brandon Lyon, LHP J.A. Happ and RHP David Carpenter. Going to Houston along with Musgrove are RHP Francisco Cordero, OF Ben Francisco, RHP Asher Wojciechowski, 2011 Bluefielder and LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez and a player to be named later.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS: The Blue Jays have been the best team in the Appy League at throwing out potential base stealers. The trio of Santiago Nessy, Seth Conner and Hector Alvarez has gunned down 15 out of 33 runners (45.5 %) to lead the circuit.

TURNING A CORNER: First baseman Art Charles was mired in a 1-for-28 slump as his batting average sank from .275 to .176, but he has started hitting again over his last three games. Starting with a rout in Elizabethton on Monday and through the first two Mercer Cup games, he is 5-for-8 with a homer, a triple, three RBIs, four runs and five walks. Charles increased his league-leading walk total to 29 (six ahead of second place) and is now back amoung the league leaders in on base percentage as his .450 mark ranks third.

SLAMMING THE DOR-SETT: Sidewinding right-hander Brandon Dorsett has been shutting out opponents for Bluefield. The Appy League is 9-for-51 against him and Kingsport closer Shane Bay (.154) is the only reliever in the league with a lower batting average against than his .176. Since allowing a pair of unearned runs on July 4 against Danville, the Terre Haute, IN native has pitched six shutout innings over his last three appearances, including a scoreless eighth and ninth last night. He’s issued only one walk in 13 innings of work and his 7.62 baserunners per nine innings is also second in the loop to Bay (7.36) among relievers.
 

Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 7-20

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