Rehabbing Toronto stars Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson shined on both sides of the ball in Dunedin's 3-2 victory over the Fort Myers Miracle on Tuesday night. Tulowitzki knocked a solo home run in the fifth inning for what turned out to be the deciding run for the Blue Jays,
Rehabbing Toronto stars Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson shined on both sides of the ball in Dunedin's 3-2 victory over the Fort Myers Miracle on Tuesday night. Tulowitzki knocked a solo home run in the fifth inning for what turned out to be the deciding run for the Blue Jays, and Donaldson finished 2-3 with an RBI and started a crucial double play to preserve an early Dunedin lead.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead when 1B Max Pentecost and Tulowitzki hit back-to-back singles to open the game. After a pair of pop outs, CF Lane Thomas singled to right to score Pentecost and put Dunedin up 1-0. The Jays added a second run in the second inning on Donaldson's second hit of the game, scoring LF D.J. Davis from second base following his single and stolen base.
LHP Ryan Borucki turned in a quality start for Dunedin to pick up his second win on the season. Borucki went 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked none.
Dunedin's defense came up clutch for Borucki in multiple situations. In the second with runners on first and second, Donaldson snagged a line drive rocketed off the bat of Fort Myers SS Sean Miller and doubled the lead runner off second. With two runners on again in the fourth, a 6-4-3 double play started by Tulowitzki ended the inning. In the fifth inning, Miracle LF Daniel Kihle hit a double to deep left with two outs that looked sure to score Rafael Valera from first base. The relay throw from Davis in left went over the outstretched glove of Tulowitzki's cut-off attempt, but 2B Deiferson Barreto arrived on a full sprint from second to back up the throw and throw out Valera at home.
Tulowitzki extended Dunedin's lead to 3-0 in the fifth with a solo home run into the trees beyond the left field fence at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
The Miracle did not go down quietly, scoring a pair of runs in the sixth inning on a two-run shot off the bat of Zander Wiel. They threatened again in the ninth inning, but it was Dunedin's defense that came to the rescue again. After the first two batters of the inning reached base, C Mike Reeves made an excellent play on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Miller to throw out the lead runner at third base. The following batter, Rafael Valera, hit a sinking line drive to right-centerfield that looked destined to drop and tie the game, but Dunedin CF Lane Thomas made a spectacular diving catch and a quick relay throw back to the infield to double the runner off second and end the game.
"I can't say enough about the play Lane made to end the game. That was great," Dunedin manager John Schneider said after the game. "Mike fielding the bunt in the ninth was huge to get the first out. Whenever you're playing good defense and you get good starting pitching like we did tonight, usually good things happen. Good defense will do that for you in close ball games, and tonight we were on the right side of it."
Of Note
"Good, a little sore. But, it's good soreness. It's nice to be out there playing with the boys and good to get a win," Donaldson said about how he was feeling after game two of his rehab stint in Dunedin. He also spoke about his Dunedin teammates. "The pitching looks really good. There's some guys at the plate that are doing some things that look good as well. Today was kind of a tough day to go out there and hit with the wind, but a lot of guys were up there having really solid at-bats. I've been impressed by what I've seen so far."
