Jays rally in the eighth, escape jam in ninth to clinch series win

DUNEDIN, FL – For the second straight night, the Blue Jays rallied in the eighth inning to take a dramatic victory, 4-2 over Jupiter on Saturday night at TD Ballpark. The win is Dunedin’s fourth straight and clinches the team’s first series win since April 9-14 at Tampa.

Squaring off against Marlins’ top prospect Noble Meyer, Dunedin picked up a first inning run against the righty. Meyer hit Victor Arias on the first pitch he threw. Arias eventually stole second and reached third on a throwing error, and then dashed home on a wild pitch.

Jays starter Nolan Perry was strong in 2.2 innings, striking out five and allowing just one hit.

Jupiter would draw even against Yondrei Rojas, the first arm out of the Dunedin bullpen. Rojas opened the fourth inning with a walk to Jesus Hernandez, who advanced on a balk and then two wild pitches to tie the game at one.

The deadlock held until the sixth inning, when the Hammerheads scratched across a run on a Ryan Ignoffo RBI single against Jordan Powell. The knuckleballing righty finished the inning with two strikeouts to strand Ignoffo on second base.

Irv Carter kept the Jays within one run by retiring six straight in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Blue Jays took advantage in the bottom of the eighth. Arias and Jean Joseph started the inning with back-to-back singles. Then, Jupiter arm Jack Sellinger hit Tucker Toman to load the bases.

Edward Duran tied the game on ground ball up the middle that scored Arias. The shortstop Hernandez made a diving stop and flipped to second for the fielders’ choice, but second baseman Jordan McCants was off the bag, which re-loaded the bases.

Cristian Feliz delivered the lead on a sacrifice fly to center field that drove Joseph home from third base. Daniel Perez followed the act with his own sac fly to make it 4-2.

Carter came back out for the ninth inning, but ran into a jam, as the first three batters of the inning reached to load the bases with no outs.

Dunedin called upon Eliander Alcalde for the save, and the right-hander answered the call, striking out two batters looking before inducing a game-ending fly out.

The Jays will wrap up the season series with the Hammerheads tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch set for noon.