Cole Ks nine as Blue Jays crush 'Crabs by 7

Port Charlotte, FL - RHP Taylor Cole (W, 4-2) was dominant, Dunedin's offense was unstoppable, and the Blue Jays (38-15) won their third-straight game, 7-0, over the Charlotte Stone Crabs (25-27) on Thursday night at Charlotte Spots Park. The D-Jays have outscored the 'Crabs 19-3 in the first three games of the series.

Cole matched a season-high with seven innings of brilliant pitching, allowing just four baserunners - two infield singles, one base hit to center and one hit batter - with no walks and nine strikeouts. Cole set a career-high with 10 strikeouts last Friday against Fort Myers. Charlotte never had more than one baserunner in a single inning, and Cole used a 6-4-3 double play in the seventh to finish his night in style.

LHP Chad Girodo retired the final six batters of the game in consecutive order to close out the win.

Dunedin took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double down the third base line from DH Marcus Knecht, who finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. He's 9-for-13 in the series with three doubles and seven RBIs.

The Blue Jays broke the game open in the fifth against starter Blake Snell (L, 0-1) in his FSL debut. 2B Christian Lopes reached on an error to start the rally, and LF Dwight Smith, Jr. and CF Dalton Pompey followed with singles to load the bases. Knecht drew a walk to make it 2-0, then 1B K.C. Hobson chopped a double past the third baseman to score two and increase the lead to 4-0.

Two batters later, RF Nick Baligod lined a single up the middle to plate Hobson and Knecht. With a 6-0 advantage, Baligod moved to second, third, and scored on three wild pitches by Jose Alberto Molina, giving the Blue Jays their second 7-0 lead in three games.

RHP Ben White will take the hill tomorrow as the D-Jays go for the four-game sweep.