Dunedin overcomes early deficit, snags series opener in Lakeland

LAKELAND, FL – Dunedin used a go-ahead, RBI double from Robert Robertis in the sixth inning and six scoreless innings from the bullpen to take a 5-4 victory over Lakeland on Tuesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.

With the victory, Dunedin improves to 36-33 on the season and 2-1 in the second half.

After a 1-2-3 first inning from Blue Jays starter Gage Stanifer, the right hander ran into trouble in the second. The Flying Tigers rallied for three runs on three hits, using a two-RBI double from Archer Brookman and an RBI single from David Smith to claim a 3-0 lead.

The lead swelled to 4-0 with a Jose De La Cruz RBI double in the top of the third. Stanifer limited the damage to just one in the inning, stranding De La Cruz on third to finish his outing.

Dunedin jumped on the comeback trail in the top of the fourth. Edward Duran singled and Cristian Feliz walked to open the frame, setting up an RBI double for Jean Joseph that got the Jays on the board. With runners on second and third, Tucker Toman poked a sacrifice fly to left field to trim the deficit to 4-2. Following a Yeuni Munoz single, Robertis lifted his own sac fly to cut it to a 4-3 game.

Juanmi Vasquez opened the night for the Blue Jays bullpen and worked out of trouble in his first inning of work. In the fourth, Vasquez loaded the bases with one out, but escaped the jam with a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

The lefty eventually finished three innings of one-hit ball to earn the win.

In the fifth, Duran reached second base on a two-out throwing error on Lakeland pitcher Cam Brown. With Feliz at the plate, Lakeland third baseman Cristian Santana was playing well off the bag towards shortstop. Noticing the shift, Duran took off for third, inducing another errant throw from Brown that allowed him to score to tie the game at 4.

In the sixth, Robertis came to the plate with two outs and Toman on first after a one-out single. The left handed batter sent a line drive down the left field line that allowed Toman to score from first, giving the Jays a 5-4 lead.

The Jays couldn’t manage insurance, but the bullpen’s performance deemed it unnecessary. Eliander Alcalde worked around a baserunner in the seventh and eighth to keep Dunedin ahead.

Alcalde returned for the ninth and recorded the first two outs – the second of which was a 110 MPH line drive back to the mound that Alcalde caught chest-high. However, a two-out single from Jose De La Cruz chased him from the game.

Yondrei Rojas was called upon for the final out, and induced a groundout to shortstop to end the contest.

The series in Lakeland continues Wednesday night with a 6pm first pitch. Toronto No. 1 prospect Ricky Tiedemann is set to make his second rehab start on the mound for the Jays. Fans can tune into the hometown call for free online at https://www.milb.com/dunedin/fans/radio.