Diaz Dazzles As Homers Lead Dunedin To 6-0 Win

Looking to stave off elimination in the North Division, the Blue Jays kicked off their final homestand of the 2018 season with a commanding 6-0 win over the league's winningest team, the Palm Beach Cardinals. CF Joshua Palacios and SS Kevin Smith each homered in the home half of the first inning, giving RHP Yennsy Diaz more than enough run support as he cruised to his fifth win of the season with Dunedin.
Diaz was sharp from the beginning, setting the side down in order in the top of the first. In the bottom of the inning, Palacios wasted no time extending his current hitting streak to eight games with an opposite field blast to lead off the inning. The homer continued a torrid stretch for Dunedin's centerfielder, giving him a hit in 23 of his last 25 games, a streak during which he's hit .369.
After Palm Beach starter Alex Fagalde recorded a strikeout for the first out of the inning, Smith stepped to the plate and demolished a hanging breaking ball, sending it not just over the tall wall in left, but over the trees behind. The shot was Smith's 17th with Dunedin and 24th overall on the season.
With the lead, Diaz sailed through seven innings, allowing just three base runners and only one runner to advance past first base. He struck out four along the way, earning his fifth win with Dunedin and 10th on the season.
Dunedin padded their lead in the sixth inning. 2B Logan Warmoth worked a walk to lead off the inning. After Smith flied out, LF Brock Lundquist drilled a double, his second of the game, to plate Warmoth and increase the lead to 3-0. A batter later, RF Chad Spanberger lofted a no-doubt home run high over the rightfield wall to make it 5-0.
The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the seventh, but were unable to score. Palm Beach did the same in the eighth against reliever RHP Claudio Custodio.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays strung together a double by Spanberger and singles by 3B Ivan Castillo and 1B Kacy Clemens to push across an additional insurance run.
RHP Ty Tice entered in the ninth and sat the Cardinals down in order to finish off the win. With the scoreless inning tonight, the righty now has a 1.44 ERA in his last 25.0 innings out of the Blue Jays bullpen.
Spanberger fell a triple short of the cycle, going 3-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Smith, Lundquist, Castillo, and 1B Kacy Clemens each had two hits. DH Rodrigo Orozco went 1-3, maintaining his batting average at .301, tied for the top spot in the Florida State League's Batting Title chase. 
With six games left in the season, Dunedin sits 6.0 games out of first in the North Division behind Clearwater. A mathematical improbability but not impossibility, Dunedin won their season series against the Threshers 12 games to 10, giving them the tiebreaker if the two teams were to finish the season tied for first. 
The Blue Jays and Cardinals will continue their four-game set at Dunedin Stadium tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM. RHP Maverik Buffo (3-3, 5.66 ERA) will take the mound for Dunedin against LHP Ian Oxnevad (6-6, 4.93 ERA).