It wasn’t a great day for a couple of key pitchers in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
Top Blue Jays prospect Ricky Tiedemann made his return to the triple-A Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday, but it wasn’t a long outing.
He threw 27 pitches and was removed from the game against Lehigh Valley after the first due to left forearm tightness. He had one strikeout, allowed one hit and one earned run and walked three. The Bisons were leading 3-1 when he was pulled from the contest.
Meanwhile, Yimi Garcia’s second rehab outing was pushed back another day.
The decision was made due to neck stiffness for the right-handed reliever, manager John Schneider told reporters on Wednesday.
Garcia was also scratched from Tuesday’s outing in Buffalo due to a stiff neck.
In his first appearance with triple-A Buffalo, the 33-year-old struck out two in one inning of work, throwing just 10 pitches without allowing a baserunner.
He was placed on the 15-day injured list in mid-June with right elbow ulnar neuritis.
Garcia, a pending free agent, has been Toronto’s best bullpen arm in 2024, posting a 2.57 ERA, a 3-0 record, 37 strikeouts and five saves over 28.0 innings this season.
Tiedemann, 21, started the first four games of his rehab assignment in Florida at lower levels. He allowed one run while striking out 15 and walking two in his past three starts for single-A Dunedin over a total of 7.2 innings.
The left-hander has been recovering from ulnar nerve inflammation that forced him onto the injured list earlier this season in mid-April after three starts with the triple-A Buffalo.
In 2023, Tiedemann threw 62 innings across three minor-league levels and the Arizona Fall League (AFL). He finished the MiLB season with a 3.68 ERA, 82 strikeouts and 23 walks.
At the AFL, he was named the Pitcher of the Year, allowing just five runs over 18 innings of work while racking up 23 strikeouts.
This season with Buffalo, Tiedemann has a 5.63 ERA with 10 strikeouts and nine walks.