Dunedin Falls In Extras By A Run For Second Straight Night

For the third straight night, the Blue Jays fell by one run to the Jupiter Hammerheads, losing in extras 6-5. The Blue Jays came heartbreakingly close to tying the game in the bottom of the tenth, but a perfect throw from Jupiter right fielder Cameron Baranek gunned out LF Brock Lundquist at the plate attempting to score from third on a fly ball off the bat of C Riley Adams to end the game and hand Dunedin an extra innings defeat for the second consecutive game.
RHP Aaron Sanchez started on the mound for the Blue Jays on rehab assignment from Toronto. The ace of the 2013 Dunedin staff was strong in his first rehab assignment with the Blue Jays, striking out a pair in the first inning. A walk to Tristan Pompey followed by a stolen base and a ground ball single that trickled up the middle off the bat of James Nelson allowed the Hammerheads to get on the board first and take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
The single by Nelson would be one of just two hits allowed by the 2016 American League ERA leader. Sanchez finished his evening having thrown four innings, with the one run on two hits allowed and three strikeouts. He threw just 35 of his 74 pitches for strikes, walking four, but repeatedly induced weak contact to prevent further damage. His fastball sat in the mid-90s and he repeatedly threw his hammer curve for strikes.
Dunedin answered Jupiter's first inning run with four of their own in the second inning. After a single and a double play ball put two outs on the scoreboard, DH Logan Warmoth, 3B Nash Knight, CF Rodrigo Orozco, SS Yeltsin Gudino, and RF Josh Palacios strung five consecutive singles together to give Dunedin a 4-1 lead. 
RHP Bryan Baker followed Sanchez on the mound making his Dunedin debut after being acquired as the finishing piece in the Seunghwan Oh deal on Monday. Baker tossed 1.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits and striking out one. 
Angel Perdomo entered on the mound to open the sixth inning and set the Hammerheads down in order. He returned to the mound in the seventh and ran into trouble. After hitting the leadoff batter with a pitch, Perdomo walked Corey Bird to put two runners on. After a strikeout for the first out, B.J. López singled on a soft liner to right, loading the bases. Bryson Brigman followed with a ground ball to between first and second that 1B Chad Spanberger attempted to backhand but was unable to handle cleanly, allowing a run to score while the bases remained loaded. The next hitter grounded out, forcing home another run.
With runners at the corners and two outs, the Blue Jays turned to RHP William Ouellette on the mound. A ground ball single into right by Pompey brought home the tying run before a strikeout ended the inning. 
With the score still tied in the top of the ninth, Brigman doubled to deep center off LHP Jake Fishman. A ground out moved the runner over and another single by Pompey plated the go-ahead run for Jupiter.
Dunedin answered in the bottom of the ninth. Knight opened the inning with a single. CF Rodrigo Orozco followed with a double into the right field gap, putting two runners in scoring position. After a strikeout and an intentional walk, 2B Ivan Castillo beat out the relay throw from second on a fielder's choice, bringing in Knight from third to tie the game.
A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly allowed the Hammerheads to move the pace-of-play runner on second over and in to re-take the lead in the top of the tenth inning against Fishman.
The Blue Jays came ever so close to tying the game again in the home half of the tenth. Spanberger knocked a ground ball to the right side to move pace-of-play runner Brock Lundquist over to third to open the inning. A high fly ball to medium depth in right field off the bat of Adams looked like it would be deep enough to bring Lundquist in from third, but Cameron Baranek in right field threw a rocket to the plate to throw out Lundquist for the final out of the game.
WIth the loss, Dunedin falls to 30-23 and 1-9 in their last 10 games, continuing their late-season tumble from first place in the North Division. They now sit in third place behind Clearwater (34-18) and Lakeland (29-21) in the division, 4.5 games out of first place with just over two weeks of the season remaining.