Bullpen Is Bright Spot of 5-1 Loss to Bradenton

Clearwater, FL.--- The offense was lacking again on Saturday night for Dunedin, and this time it results in a 5-1 loss.   
Kyle Johnston came in to the start for his first appearance as a Blue Jay. It was the second night in a row a new member of the franchise pitched to start the game for Dunedin with Simeon Woods Richardson pitching yesterday. Johnston had a great two innings to start giving up no hit. The 3^rd inning unraveled for the new Blue Jay with a five run frame. The walks plagued Johnston in the inning as he gave free passes to three Marauders and left the bases loaded for Turner Larkins to come out of the pen.
Larkins gave up a hit that allowed two more earned runs for Johnston to cross the plate. The 3^rd inning would be the only productive inning for Bradenton as the bullpen tossed a gem the rest of the way. The combination of Turner Larkins, Sean Rackoski, and Emerson Jimenez allowed five hits in the final 6 innings with no runs scoring. Rackoski didn't allow a hit in his inning of work either.
The Blue Jays threatened in the 7^th with the bases loaded off of three straight walks, but they could only drive in one run by way of a Nick Podkul ground out. A Chavez Young double played ended the frame, and Dunedin couldn't get a hit in the last two innings. The big hit of the day did come from Samad Taylor as he hit a ball off the top of the batters eye, which is in play, to deep center field for a double with a projected distance of 443 feet.
Dunedin will be going to try and save the series with a finale win on Sunday afternoon at Jack Russell before they go on a 14 day road trip.