Dragoo Leads Late Surge but Threshers Drop Third Straight 

WP: Daniel Guerra (1-1, 4.19)

LP: Orlando Gonzalez (0-1, 3.86)

BOX SCORE

CLEARWATER, FL – Joel Dragoo and Raider Tello chipped in two hits each, but the Clearwater Threshers (57-58, 14-35) dropped their third straight game in a 12-4 defeat to the Dunedin Blue Jays (60-55, 26-23) on Thursday night at BayCare Ballpark. The Threshers look to snap their skid when they return to Clearwater on Friday.

Dunedin belted a pair of two-run home runs in the first inning to open the scoring at 4-0. They extended their lead to 5-0 with another run in the second. The score remained the same until the seventh when Dunedin tacked on two more runs to increase their advantage to seven runs.

Tello singled with one out in the seventh inning off Blue Jays reliever Colby Martin. He moved to second when Brady Day walked and advanced to third, loading the bases on a Bryan Rincon single. Dante Nori grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate Tello from third, scoring the Threshers first run of the game. The next batter, Eduardo Tait, rolled a double down the left-field line to score Rincon and cut the deficit to 7-2. Dunedin got the two runs back and more, plating five in the eighth to extend their lead to ten runs.

Dragoo led off the eighth with a double off Dunedin hurler Jay Schueler. After John Spikerman was hit by a pitch, Dragoo scored on an RBI single by Kehden Hettiger that moved Spikerman to third. He scored after a double play ball, cutting the Dunedin lead down to eight.

The Threshers were sent down in order in the ninth, sealing their third-straight loss at 12-4.

Orlando Gonzalez (0-1) allowed five runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings to take the loss. Jose Peña allowed two hits in 1.2 shutout innings with two strikeouts. Sam Highfill allowed four runs on three hits in 1.1 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. Drew Garrett surrendered three runs on one hit and two walks with two strikeouts in 0.2 frames. Josh Bortka struck out two and retired all three batters he faced in the ninth.

Day recorded the Threshers’ first hit of the game to extend his hit streak to six games...Dragoo has four multi-hit games in his first six games as a pro...Tello recorded his first multi-hit game as a Thresher...He has reached in each of his first five games...Highfill is the first member of the 2024 Draft Class to top 1.0 inning in his debut...Eight of the final nine outs for the Threshers were strikeouts...The Threshers continue a six-game home series against the Dunedin Blue Jays on Friday, August 23...First pitch will be at 6:30 PM EST...You can purchase Threshers tickets at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The Box Office at BayCare Ballpark is also open daily to purchase Threshers tickets…The hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays.