Coming off a tough 1-6 road trip, the Dunedin Blue Jays looked to be on their way to getting back on the right track on Monday evening at Dunedin Stadium, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead over the Jupiter Hammerheads, but four late runs allowed Jupiter to get back
Coming off a tough 1-6 road trip, the Dunedin Blue Jays looked to be on their way to getting back on the right track on Monday evening at Dunedin Stadium, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead over the Jupiter Hammerheads, but four late runs allowed Jupiter to get back in the game and hand the Blue Jays a 5-4 loss.
Zach Logue was sharp early for Dunedin on the mound. After setting down Jupiter in order in the first, the lefty struck out a pair of batters in the third, K'd the side in order in the fourth, and struck out two more in the fifth and sixth inning to finish with 10 strikeouts.
The Hammerheads pushed a run across in the fourth, using back-to-back doubles by Bryson Brigman and Tristan Pompey to go up 1-0.
Dunedin responded in the fifth, using four walks and two singles to score four times. With one out in the fifth, C Riley Adams walked. 1B Kacy Clemens followed with a single to put runners on the corners. After a strikeout, a walk to RF Rodrigo Orozco loaded the bases. A walk to CF Joshua Palacios tied the game. After a wild pitch scored Adams, 2B Ivan Castillo drilled a two-run single up the middle to plate Clemens and Orozco and put Dunedin up 4-1.
Jupiter began chipping away in the sixth, scoring their second run off Logue. Pompey walked to open the inning and came in to score on a one-out double by Riley Mahan. After a passed ball allowed Mahan to move to third, Logue stranded him there with a pair of fly outs. He finished his evening with a line of 6.0 innings pitched, five hits, two runs, one walk, and a career-high ten strikeouts.
The Blue Jays turned the ball over to Ty Tice out of the bullpen in the seventh. Sporting a 0.96 ERA over his last 10 outings, the righty finally struggled. Micah Brown led off the inning with a single. After a fly out for the first out, Corey Bird singled to right. An errant throw in from right allowed Bird to advance to second, putting two runners in scoring position. A single by Brigman plated both runners and tied the game.
Tice returned to the mound in the eighth and allowed a lead off single. After a sacrifice bunt, a single by Jhonny Santos put Jupiter up 5-4.
The Jupiter bullpen was stellar in the game. After Dunedin's four-run outburst in the fifth against starter Jorge Guzman, the Hammerheads relief corps did not allow a hit in 4.1 scoreless innings. Vincenzo Aiello picked up the win out of the pen and Chad Smith earned his 10th save by striking out a pair in the ninth.
The loss drops Dunedin's second half record to 30-21, 2.5 games behind Clearwater in second place in the North Division. Jupiter improves to 21-26 in the second half. The two teams will continue their four-game set tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM with RHP Yennsy Diaz squaring off with Jupiter's RHP Ryan Lillie.
