Tarpons score 10 to push past Blue Jays
Dunedin, FL – After both starting pitchers retired the first nine batters of the game, Tampa raced away from Dunedin to take a 10-4 victory on Thursday night at TD Ballpark. The Blue Jays, now 10-14, have lost 12 of their last 14 games. Grant Rogers was sharp for Dunedin,
Dunedin, FL – After both starting pitchers retired the first nine batters of the game, Tampa raced away from Dunedin to take a 10-4 victory on Thursday night at TD Ballpark. The Blue Jays, now 10-14, have lost 12 of their last 14 games.
Grant Rogers was sharp for Dunedin, striking out six in three straight 1-2-3 innings to open his night. Tarpons starter Cade Smith matched by racking up seven strikeouts in his first three innings.
Tampa got to Rogers in the fourth, opening the frame with back-to-back singles and then a walk to load the bases with no outs. Rogers bounced back with a strike out and shallow pop out to left, getting within a strike of leaving the bases loaded. With two strikes, Willy Montero cleared the bases with a double, giving the Tarpons a 3-0 lead.
In the fifth, Dayro Perez tripled with one out, and scored on Enmanuel Tejeda’s RBI single to make it 4-0. The next batter, Coby Morales, walked, signaling the end of Rogers’ night. After Jerry Huntzinger replaced Rogers, two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice and throwing error by Tucker Toman, pushing the lead to 6-0.
On the other side of the scorebook, Cade Smith cruised through six shutout frames, allowing just one hit while striking out 11 Blue Jays.
The lead swelled to 9-0 with another 3-spot in the seventh inning, as Tampa scored with an RBI double from Morales and a 2-RBI double from Dylan Jasso.
Dunedin’s bats got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, as Yhoangel Aponte blasted a solo homer to left-center, his second of the year.
After Jordan Powell finished an inning and a third scoreless out of Dunedin’s bullpen, the Jays scored three more times in the bottom of the eighth. First, Victor Arias doubled to drive in Cristian Feliz. Then, Aponte drove in two on an infield single to cut the deficit to 9-4.
Tampa got a run back in the ninth on a solo homer from Jasso, pushing the Tarpons lead to 10-4.
Dunedin fought until the end, loading the bases with three infield singles in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn’t score.
The Jays will look to even the series tomorrow evening in game four of the six game set. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30, with tickets available on DunedinBlueJays.com.