NO-HITTER! Four Marauders Hurlers Hold Jays Spellbound

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Four Marauders pitchers dominated Saturday night at BayCare Ballpark, completing the franchise’s first nine-inning no hitter in a 2-0 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Jose Maldonado, Cameron Junker, Brennan Malone, and Wandi Montout combined to strike out 11 in the no-hit effort for the Marauders (7-4) while working around six walks. The no-hitter was the first of any kind for the Marauders since June 24, 2018, when Oddy Nunez threw a rain-shortened, eight-inning no-hitter against Fort Myers.

Sergio Campana delivered the game’s only runs, knocking a two-run single to center field in the fourth inning off Blue Jays (2-9) reliever Alejandro Melean (0-1).

After walking the leadoff hitter to begin the game, Maldonado retired the next six batters in a row for the Marauders, but was removed from the game mid at-bat with an apparent injury while facing Jhon Solarte to begin the bottom of the third inning. Junker (1-0) entered in emergency relief and proceeded to strike out Solarte and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. The three innings of work matched Junker’s career-high.

Malone made his Marauders debut in the sixth, working around a one-out walk and a hit-by-pitch by getting an inning-ending double-play grounder.

Wandi Montout retired six of the seven men he faced in the seventh and eighth innings but ran into trouble in the ninth. After getting a leadoff popout, Montout allowed a long fly ball down the left-field line by Orelvis Martinez that narrowly fell foul over the wall. Martinez then grounded out, and after issuing back-to-back walks to Zach Britton and Miguel Hiraldo, Montout won a seven-pitch battle with P.K. Morris, striking him out looking to end the game.

The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at BayCare Ballpark. RHP Adrian Florencio (0-0, 3.38 ERA) will start for the Marauders against RHP Rafael Ohashi (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Blue Jays.