Kennedy Fires Quality Start but Blue Jays Storm Back to Down Bradenton

BRADENTON, FL —The Dunedin Blue Jays score seven unanswered runs to defeat the Bradenton Marauders 7-4 on Wednesday night at LECOM Park.

Bradenton plated a run in each of the first two innings against Cristopher Castro. In the first, Jhonny Severino doubled on the first pitch he saw and moved to third on a balk from Castro. Keiner Delgado grounded out to shortstop to score Severino and push Bradenton ahead 1-0.

In the second, Javier Rivas doubled, moved to third on a pickoff throwing error, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Derek Berg to double the lead to 2-0.

Severino then led off the fifth inning with a solo-home run, his second in three games. Later in the frame, Delgado doubled and scored on a hit from Axiel Plaz to make it 4-0 Bradenton.

Michael Kennedy struck out four and walked two in five scoreless innings before turning the ball over to the bullpen.

In the sixth, Arjun Nimmala and Aaron Parker hit a pair of solo-home runs against Peyton Stumbo (2-4) to cut the deficit to 4-2. Carter Cunningham singled and later scored on a Manny Beltre single to cut it to just one heading to the seventh.

In the next inning, the first five men reached against Stumbo. Braeden Berry and JR Freethy singled and Nathan Lukes walked to load the bases for Nimmala who doubled home two to give the Blue Jays their first lead at 5-4. The next batter, Eddie Micheletti, singled in Lukes before Stumbo departed and Danny Carrion entered. The right-hander retired the next three batters with Cunningham scoring a run on the sacrifice fly to close out the game’s scoring at 7-4.

Colby Martin (1-0) tossed a scoreless sixth before Yondrei Rojas (SV,5) retired all nine batters he faced to end the game.

The Marauders and Blue Jays continue their series on Thursday night at LECOM Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.