The Dunedin Blue Jays returned home on Monday evening after a successful road trip having taken three of four from the Charlotte Stone Crabs and two of three from the Fort Myers Miracle. They looked to be on their way to another victory on Monday, leading 5-3 going into the
The Dunedin Blue Jays returned home on Monday evening after a successful road trip having taken three of four from the Charlotte Stone Crabs and two of three from the Fort Myers Miracle. They looked to be on their way to another victory on Monday, leading 5-3 going into the eighth inning, but were unable to hold the lead and fell in extras 8-6.
The Stone Crabs spotted top prospect LHP Brendan McKay with a two-run lead in the second inning to open the scoring. Doubles by Jesús Sánchez and Josh Lowe, a single by Zacrey Law, and a sacrifice fly gave Charlotte a 2-0 lead, but Dunedin was quick to answer.
In the home half of the second, Dunedin scored three times, all with two outs. C Riley Adams and 3B Nash Knight each drew walks, and RF Eduard Pinto followed with an RBI double to left to tie the score. The next batter, 2B Ivan Castillo legged out an infield single on a slow roller to Adeiny Hechavarría at short. While Hechavarria threw to first to try to get Castillo, Pinto never slowed, rounding third and sliding in safely at home.
The Dunedin offense remained on the attack in the third, stretching their lead to 5-2. A quartet of singles by SS Kevin Smith, DH David Jacob, Adams, and Knight pushed across two runs and forced McKay from the ballgame. He finished with a line of 2.2 innings pitched, six hits, five runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. It was the second time in less than a week that the Blue Jays have chased McKay from a game early, as they scored four times against him in 3.2 innings last week on June 5th.
The Stone Crabs kept the game close with a run in the fourth using a walk to Law, a stolen base, and a single by Jermaine Palacios to cut the lead to 5-3.
The score remained the same until the eighth inning. RHP Yennsy Diaz worked 5.2 strong innings for Dunedin, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out seven. When he ran into trouble in the sixth, walking the bases loaded with two outs, RHP Andy Ravel entered and recorded a strikeout to end the inning and then tossed a scoreless seventh.
Charlotte pushed a run across in the eighth against RHP William Ouellette making his first appearance for Dunedin since going on the disabled list on May 10th. A leadoff double by Tristan Gray and a two-out single by Jake Fraley pushed the run across, making the score 5-4.
In the ninth, LHP Jake Fishman entered looking to lock down the save and continue string of strong appearances over the past two months (he'd allowed just one run since May 1st). Fishman walked the first batter he faced but then made a strong play to throw out the lead runner at second when the next batter attempted a sacrifice bunt. He hit the next batter, putting two on, and then a passed ball followed by a wild pitch allowed the Stone Crabs to tie the game.
A single by Smith, his second of the game, followed by a bunt and a walk put runners at the corners for Dunedin in the bottom of the ninth, but they failed to push across the winning run. Smith would go on to finish the game 2-6, giving him five consecutive multi-hit games.
Charlotte took their first lead of the game in the top of the tenth against RHP Jackson McClelland. A passed ball with one out allowed the pace-of-play runner that began extra innings at second to advance to third, and Jake Fraley dumped a bloop single into short left field to put the Stone Crabs up 6-5.
Dunedin tied the game in the bottom of the tenth. Knight moved pace-of-play runner 1B Kacy Clemens to third with a ground out, and Pinto brought him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 6-6. Castillo followed with his second single of the game, but was left at first base when LF Rodrigo Orozco flew out to the warning track for the third out.
With a pace-of-play runner at second to begin the eleventh, LHP Juliandry Higuera walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases. After Higuera struck out a batter for the first out, Jesus Sanchez drilled his second double of the game to deep centerfield, plating two runs. With two runners still in scoring position, Higuera recorded a pair of pop outs to end the inning, but the damage had been done with Dunedin trailing 8-6.
A pair of strikeouts and a ground out stranded a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the eleventh and handed Dunedin the loss. J.D. Busfield was credited with his first win of the season, allowing an unearned run over 2.0 innings, throwing the tenth and eleventh innings for Charlotte. Higuera took the loss, his third.
With the loss, Dunedin now holds a 26-35 record on the season and a 3-2 record against the Stone Crabs. The two teams will continue their four-game set at Dunedin Stadium tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM with RHP Patrick Murphy (4-4, 3.49 ERA) on the hill for the Blue Jays against a yet unannounced starter for the Stone Crabs.
