DUNEDIN, Fla. - Cornelius Randolph pushed his on-base streak to 28 games, but Clearwater was held off the board on six hits in a 3-0 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.Randolph kept the streak alive by drawing a walk in the first inning and doubling
DUNEDIN, Fla. - Cornelius Randolph pushed his on-base streak to 28 games, but Clearwater was held off the board on six hits in a 3-0 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
Randolph kept the streak alive by drawing a walk in the first inning and doubling in the eighth. The 20-year-old outfielder has matched Bradenton's Cole Tucker for the longest such streak in the Florida State League this season.
The Blue Jays (47-48, 13-13) plated the game's first run in the third inning, after DJ Davis knocked a one-out single to right-center and promptly stole second. Blue Jays rehabber Anthony Alford followed with a base hit to plate Davis and put Dunedin ahead 1-0.
Clearwater (51-43, 13-11) twice put a runner on third with nobody out against Jordan Romano (5-5), but twice Romano managed to hold the Threshers off the board.
Mark Laird put down a bunt single and made it to third on a Romano error in the third, but the Blue Jays hurler struck out the next two he faced before getting Wilson Garcia to fly out to end the inning.
In the fourth Jan Hernandez was hit by a pitch and Zach Green reached on an infield hit to third, setting up men at the corners with nobody out. Carlos Duran sent a fly ball to right, but with Hernandez attempting to score, right fielder Eduard Pinto fired a strike home on a line to nab Hernandez and keep Clearwater off the board.
Dunedin doubled up its advantage in the fourth, when Connor Panas went yard for his seventh homer of the season to make it 2-0.
Waguespack (6-4) exited after four innings, having made 81 pitches (52 strikes). He yielded two runs on four hits and two walks, recording six strikeouts.
Harold Arauz retired the side and struck out two on just seven pitches in the fifth, but Juan Kelly's solo shot with one out in the sixth increased the Dunedin lead to 3-0. It was the first earned run allowed by Arauz since June 9.
The series wraps up on Thursday at Spectrum Field on Taps and Tacos Night presented by Tijuana Flats. Franklyn Kilomé (4-4) will take the hill against Jose DeGraaf (3-0) at 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com starting at 6:45 p.m.
