Palm Beach gets last laugh in back-and-forth, extra innings battle

JUPITER, FL – In a contest that featured a combined eight runs in the final four innings, Palm Beach broke a see-saw pattern with a walk-off RBI double from Kade Kretzschmar in the bottom of the 12th to take a 8-7 win over the Blue Jays on Thursday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

The 12-inning, 3-hour and 14-minute contest was Dunedin’s longest this year after playing their fastest game of the season on Wednesday.

The Blue Jays jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI double from Manuel Beltre, followed by an RBI single from Edward Duran.

Palm Beach responded with a three-run, three-hit rally in the bottom of the third that put them ahead 3-2.

The Blue Jays tied the game back up at three in the top of the fifth on Beltre’s second RBI of the night.

Dunedin’s lead was short lived, as the Cardinals responded with a two-out RBI single from Miguel Villarroel in the bottom of the fifth that put Palm Beach back in front 4-3. Jays starter Grant Rogers exited after the fifth, charged for all four runs.

Eliander Alcalde took over for the sixth, and started a stretch of four straight scoreless frames from Dunedin’s bullpen – two from Alcalde, one from Aaron Munson and one from Kai Peterson - which kept the deficit at one and eventually got the game to extras.

The Blue Jays broke through in the top of the ninth against Cardinals’ reliever Henry Gomez, who retired six straight in the prior two innings. Marcos De La Rosa opened the inning with a single and Jean Joseph moved him to third on a double. Then, Victor Arias tied the game by scoring De La Rosa on a sac fly.

Dunedin eventually loaded the bases with two outs but couldn’t capitalize.

Peterson got the game to extras by striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning, preserving the 4-4 tie.

In the 10th, the first two Blue Jay hitters struck out, but De La Rosa delivered a long single to the right field corner, driving in placed runner Edward Duran to give the Jays a 5-4 lead.

Peterson remained in the game for the bottom of the 10th, but the lead evaporated almost instantly. On the second pitch of the inning, Lizandro Espinosa bunted back to Peterson. After fielding the ball cleanly, Peterson uncorked the throw down the first base line, allowing placed runner Adari Grant to score from second and Espinosa to reach third base, tying the game at five.

With the winning run 90-feet away with no outs, Peterson came through with clutch back-to-back strikeouts and then an inning-ending groundout to advance the game to the 11th inning.

Dunedin once again settled for just one run in the 11th, as Joseph moved from second to third on a ground out and then scored on an error to hand the Jays a 6-5 lead, but Alexis Hernandez was left on second.

In the bottom of the inning, Keiner Leon brought Palm Beach down to its final out with back-to-back strikeouts. However, Johnfrank Salazar, in his only at bat of the game, ripped an RBI double to knot the game at six. After an intentional walk, Leon struck out Espinosa to take the game to the 12th.

Daniel Perez claimed the go-ahead knock in the 12th, lining an RBI single through the right side to score pinch-runner Yhoangel Aponte.

After the Jays stranded Perez, Palm Beach broke the stretch of one-spots in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Sammy Hernandez poked a sac fly to tie the game at seven. Then, with two outs and a man on first, Kretzschmar sent a shallow line drive into center. Center fielder Victor Arias dove for the ball and came up just short, allowing Trey Paige, who was running with the pitch, to score from first to end the game.

Dunedin will search for redemption in the fourth game of the series, Friday night at 6:30 pm. Fans can listen to the hometown radio broadcast for free online at https://www.milb.com/dunedin/fans/radio.