Jays comeback falls short in Lakeland

LAKELAND, FL – In his first game with Dunedin in over a month, Blue Jays No. 3 prospect Arjun Nimmala homered, but the Blue Jays stranded the tying run on third base in the ninth inning and fell to Lakeland 3-2 on Thursday afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Jays starter Juaron Watts-Brown opened the contest with two scoreless frames but surrendered an RBI fielders choice to Max Clark in the third inning that put the Flying Tigers ahead 1-0.

Watts-Brown retired each of the next six batters before running into a two-out jam in the bottom of the fifth. Five straight Lakeland batters reached, highlighted by an RBI double from Kevin McGonigle and RBI single from Samuel Gil, to push the lead to 3-0.

JJ Sanchez finished the fifth with a strikeout and worked a scoreless sixth.

After Gabriel Reyes struck out 7 in 3.2 innings to start for Lakeland, Garrett Apker followed with 3 scoreless frames.

Following Apker’s exit, Nimmala put the Blue Jays on the board in the eighth with a solo home run – his fourth of the season in Single-A – to make it 3-1. The next batter, Victor Arias, drew a hit by pitch, stole second and reached third on a throwing error, setting up an Edward Duran sacrifice fly that cut the deficit to 3-2.

In the ninth, Robert Robertis drew a leadoff walk and stole second base, but Dunedin couldn’t bring him home, and took a one-run defeat.

The Jays stranded seven men on base in the contest and went 0-7 with runners in scoring position

Dunedin will have the opportunity to get back in the win column on Friday night, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 against the Flying Tigers. Fans can tune into the hometown call for free online at https://www.milb.com/dunedin/fans/radio.