Buffo, Blue Jays Shut Out Lakeland 8-0

The Blue Jays quickly put a disappointing 2-5 road trip in the rear-view mirror on Tuesday evening at Dunedin Stadium, kicking off a six-game homestand with an 8-0 win over the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The Blue Jays offense did all their damage in the fourth inning, as the first eight batters reached and scored, before the team coasted behind a quality start from RHP Maverik Buffo to their third straight win.
Both team's starting pitchers provided strong efforts in a pitching duel that lived up to the hype. Buffo tossed 6.0 scoreless for the Jays, allowing just two hits while striking out five. 
For the Flying Tigers, 2018 #1 overall draftee Casey Mize was sharp in his Florida State League debut, allowing just one hit over 3.0 innings and striking out four Blue Jays hitters.
The Blue Jays wasted no time before striking after Mize exited in the fourth. Facing reliever Eudis Idrogo, the first two batters of the inning walked. LF Brock Lundquist followed with a single to put Dunedin up 1-0. Another walk loaded the bases, and 1B Kacy Clemens drilled an RBI single to make it 2-0. DH David Jacob followed by dropping a soft single up the middle to increase the lead to 3-0 and force a pitching change with the bases still loaded. 
Fernando Perez entered in relief of Idrogo, but had no better luck. 3B Ivan Castillo welcomed him with a double, scoring two. Singles by RF Rodrigo Orozco and CF Joshua Palacios made it 7-0 with no outs on the scoreboard. SS Logan Warmoth flew out to deep right for the first out of the inning, but the Blue Jays weren't done. 2B Kevin Smith grounded a single up the middle to score Orozco and make it 8-0. 
The Blue Jays offense would only knock three more hits the rest of the game, but the lead was more than enough as Buffo and a bullpen combination of LHP Angel Perdomo (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 K), LHP Juliandry Higuera (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R), and RHP Jackson McClelland (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K) would combine to finish the shutout. 
Eight different Blue Jays had a hit in the ballgame, and every Dunedin batter reached base at least once. Lundquist and Clemens each had two hits.
The win improves Dunedin's overall record to 55-51 and their second half record to 24-14. Entering the last month of play, they sit 1.5 games above Clearwater (21-14) and 2.5 games above Lakeland (20-15) for first place in the North Division. The Blue Jays and Flying Tigers will continue their three-game series at Dunedin Stadium tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM. RHP Connor Eller (5-3, 2.79) will look to continue his stellar work as a starting pitcher (2-1, 0.83 ERA in starts) against the #3 prospect in the Tigers' system Matt Manning (3-0, 2.78 ERA).