Taylor’s Grand Slam Not Enough, Blue Jays Win Late for Second Consecutive Night

BRADENTON, FL —In a game that featured four different lead changes, the Bradenton Marauders fell short as the Dunedin Blue Jays win their third-straight against Bradenton by a score of a 6-5 on Thursday night at LECOM Park.

The Blue Jays opened up the scoring in the top of the second against Khristian Curtis. Carter Cunningham and Yhoangel Aponte reached to start on a hit by pitch and a walk before Cunningham scored on a wild pitch, throwing error to take a 1-0 lead.

Bradenton responded right away in the bottom of the frame against Daniel Guerra. Duce Gourson doubled, Yordany De Los Santos walked, and Shalin Polanco singled to load the bases up with nobody out. Guerra punched out the next two before Will Taylor slugged a grand slam to left field on the first pitch of the at-bat. For Taylor, not only was it his first professional home run, but it was also his first professional base hit.

First professional hit? How about a GRAND SLAM for Will Taylor! @ClemsonBaseball pic.twitter.com/oVyGSrzuoJ

— Bradenton Marauders (@The_Marauders) August 15, 2024

Bradenton held a 4-1 until the later stages of the game. Curtis retired the final eight of nine to end his day. He struck out five while walking three and allowed an unearned run in 3.2 innings.

Greiber Mendez entered and retired the first eight until Aponte singled in the seventh. Aponte moved to a second on a walk and reached third on a fielder’s choice. Mendez departed and Clevari Tejada (1-1) entered with two outs and runners at the corners. Jaden Rudd then doubled down the left field line to score Aponte to trim the deficit to 4-2.

In the eighth, the first three reached for Dunedin. Arjun Nimmala doubled and reached third on a throwing error to start the inning. Afte a walk to Aaron Parker, Nimmala scored on a wild pitch from Tejada to make it a 4-3 contest. Sean Keyes then slugged a go-ahead two-run home run to right field give Dunedin a 5-4 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Bradenton’s offense got right to work against JJ Sanchez (5-4). Taylor walked and scored on a Jhonny Severino double to tie the game at five.

Dunedin took the game’s final lead change in the ninth. Nick Mitchell worked a one-out walk and moved to third on a two-out Parker single before scoring on another single from Keyes to make it 6-5 Dunedin.

In the bottom half of the ninth, Polanco reached second on a throwing error with one out. Sanchez punched out the next batter before Derek Berg hit an infield single to place runners at the corners with two outs. Sanchez struck out Taylor to end the ballgame and hand Bradenton their third-straight loss.

The Marauders and Blue Jays continue their series on Friday 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.