Bats Fall Silent, Fail To Back Strong Romano Start

Following their 17-hit outburst on Friday night, the Dunedin Blue Jays bats fell silent in a 3-0 home loss to the Clearwater Threshers on Saturday evening, failing to provide run support for a quality start by Jays righty Jordan Romano during Mascot Night at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. 
Romano went 7.0 innings for the second straight start for the Blue Jays, allowing three runs on five hits. The Blue Jays bullpen backed Romano by continuing their strong July with two scoreless innings. LHP Tayler Saucedo tossed a scoreless eighth and RHP Zach Jackson tossed a scoreless ninth, striking out the side. The two shutout innings by the bullpen lowers their July ERA to a miniscule 1.03. 
Romano and the pen were the only bright spots for Dunedin, as the team struck out sixteen times in the ballgame and had just one hit through the first eight innings. Every Blue Jays batter struck out at least once in the ballgame and six Jays had multiple strikeouts.
LHP JoJo Romero started on the mound for Clearwater, making just his second start since being promoted from A-Lakewood, and confounded Blue Jays batters throughout. Romero threw 6.0 innings and allowed just one hit, striking out nine. The Threshers bullpen was just as impressive. Tyler Gilbert struck out five of the six batters he faced and Jeff Singer recorded his 17th save with a scoreless ninth.
Clearwater used a pair of doubles in the first inning to score the game's first run, a double and a sacrifice fly in the fourth to go up 2-0, and a walk, wild pitch, and sacrifice fly to score their third run in the seventh.
Offensively for Dunedin, DH Lourdes Gurriel Jr., 1B Max Pentecost, and 3B Juan Kelly each had one hit. Tonight's game was the first for Pentecost since he was placed on the disabled list on June 9th.
The Blue Jays and Threshers will complete their three game series at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium tomorrow evening before heading to Clearwater to play one game. RHP Josh DeGraaf will take the ball for Dunedin, looking to build on his recent success since returning to Dunedin from AA-New Hampshire. In 21.2 innings since returning, DeGraaf has a 2-0 record and 2.49 ERA. RHP José Taveras (5-4, 2.45 ERA) will oppose DeGraaf on the mound with the first pitch scheduled for 5:00 PM.