Marauders Swept in Doubleheader in Dunedin

DUNEDIN, FL — In their second doubleheader of the season, the Bradenton Marauders were swept by the Dunedin Blue Jays 8-4 and 2-1 on Wednesday night at TD Ballpark. The Marauders are now 0-4 in doubleheaders this season with both occurring on the road.

In game one, the Blue Jays jumped ahead with a three-run second against Hung-Leng Chang (2-4). Nic Deshamps singled and Jean Joseph doubled to place two runners in scoring position with one-out. Robert Robertis hit a sacrifice fly to score one run before Bryce Arnold clubbed a two-run home run to left field to push the Blue Jays in front 3-0.

Bradenton answered with a four-run top of the third against Jorge Bautista. The first four batters of the inning hit for the cycle with Javier Rivas leading off with a single and scoring on a Jeral Toledo triple to cut the deficit to 3-1. After a Keiner Delgado double plated Toledo, Omar Alfonzo belted a two-run home run to left field to hand Bradenton a 4-3 advantage.

The scoreline remained the same until the fifth inning after Chang departed after issuing a walk and a double to Victor Arias. Peyton Stumbo entered with a run scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game and an infield single by Alexis Hernandez plating the go-ahead run to give the lead back to Dunedin at 5-4. A Joseph single and Robertis double closed out the five-run frame at 8-4, with Dunedin going on to defeat Bradenton in game one.

In game two, Antwone Kelly (1-5) retired the first three hitters of the game until a leadoff single from Alexis Hernandez in the second. Hernanez stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single from Edward Duran to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 advantage.

Bradenton tied the game at one on a Javier Rivas solo-home run in the third against Juron Watts-Brown (2-4). Rivas, the reigning Florida State League Player of the Week, has homered in four of his last 10 games.

The game’s deciding run scored in the fourth inning after Tucker Toman reached on a fielding error with two outs. Yeuni Munoz walked and Daniel Perez reached safely on a throwing error that scored Toman to give the lead back to Dunedin at 2-1.

Keiner Delgado led off the sixth inning with a double against Kai Peterson (SV,1) who then retired the next six batters to close out the contest.

Kelly struck out a career-high eight batters in six innings and joins Khristian Curtis and Juan Salas (Palm Beach) as the only other pitchers in the Florida State League this season to toss a complete game.

The Marauders and Blue Jays continue their six-game series at TD Ballpark on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network. Bradenton sends RHP Carlson Reed (4-2, 2.22) to the hill opposite of RHP Grant Rogers (1-2, 4.93) for Dunedin.