Blue Jays Offense Stalls Again, Drop Fourth Straight

Clearwater, FL – The Dunedin Blue Jays dropped their fourth consecutive contest on Thursday night, and third straight to begin their series against the Clearwater Threshers.

RHP Pat Gallagher made his first professional start for the Blue Jays, giving up three runs, two earned in four complete innings of work. The two earned runs both came in the first inning and were aided by a miscue in center field by Abiezel Ramirez in which he got turned around on a fly ball that went for a triple.

Despite the three total runs, Gallagher looked very effective in the start, keeping it close his entire outing. In the top of the fourth down 3-0, the Blue Jays got themselves on the board with a birthday bomb by Sammy Hernandez. Hernandez, whose 19^th birthday was Thursday night, launched a ball to left field for his second homer of the year, making it 3-1.

Apart from the home run, the Blue Jays couldn’t get much going. Dunedin went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, with the lone hit being an infield single by Tucker Toman that couldn’t plate a run.

With their staff cruising for the second straight night, Clearwater tacked on another run with a Bryan Rincon inside-the-park home run to center field in which Ramirez was injured on the play. Dunedin was able threaten in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Threshers’ closer Jack Dallas shut the door, sealing a 4-1 Clearwater victory.

Dunedin dropped to 24-24 with the loss, back to .500 for the first time since May 4^th, and Clearwater improved to 34-13. The two cross-town rivals will go again Friday night at BayCare Ballpark, first pitch for game-four is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be available on the Dunedin Blue Jays Radio Network, with pregame coverage starting at 6:15 p.m.