DAYTONA BEACH, FL.---Dunedin managed to tie the ballgame twice, but failed to do it a third time in the ninth as the Jays fell by the count of 7-6 in game two of the three game series to the Daytona Tortugas.Consistent rain all afternoon pushed the original start time of
DAYTONA BEACH, FL.---Dunedin managed to tie the ballgame twice, but failed to do it a third time in the ninth as the Jays fell by the count of 7-6 in game two of the three game series to the Daytona Tortugas.
Consistent rain all afternoon pushed the original start time of 7:05 E.T. back to 7:30 because of wet grounds. On paper the pitching matchup was a strong one with LHP Wennington Romero getting the start for Daytona and RHP Josh DeGraaf starting for the Blue Jays. The southpaw Romero came in looking for his fifth win, while DeGraaf was making his first start for Dunedin since returning from Triple-A Buffalo after a short stint.
Daytona jumped on DeGraaf early scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. T.J. Friedl led the night off offensively for the Tortugas with a triple. Jose Siri drove in Friedl with a looping RBI single to left. Taylor Trammell singled to right to put two runners on. Daytona then caught the Jays on their heels pulling off a successful double steal with an off target throw from C Riley Adams to third allowing Siri to score to extend the Daytona lead to 2-0.
Friedl smacked a single to center in the second inning to score Calten Daal to extend the Daytona lead to 3-0.
The Blue Jays finally got to the Romero in the top of the fourth. Logan Warmoth led off with a walk, followed by a Bradley Jones single to put two runners aboard for Riley Adams. The Blue Jays catcher came into the ballgame hitting under .200 in the month of May, but drove a two run double down the left field line to score Warmoth. Kacy Clemens then drove in Jones with a sacrifice fly to center, and two batters later Ivan Castillo ripped a double to the left center field gap to score Adams to tie the game at three apiece.
In the bottom of the fifth, T.J. Friedl doubled, and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Jose Siri to give Daytona the lead back at 4-3. Eduard Pinto, who's missed the last four games for the Jays, drilled a single off RHP Aaron Fossas to left to score Castillo in the seventh to tie the game at 4-4.
RHP Connor Eller entered the game out of the Dunedin pen and was a victim to the struggling defense of the Jays. Calten Daal started the Tortugas rally with a single to center. Two batters later, Jose Siri blooped a single to right to put runners at first and second. Adams fired a wild pickoff throw to first that deflected off Siri and allowed Daal to advance into third. Two pitches later Taylor Trammell grounded one under the glove of the second baseman Ivan Castillo to score Daal to regain the lead as Castillo was charged with the second error of the inning committed by Dunedin. After Siri scored on a wild pitch, Mitch Nay drove in Trammell with an RBI single to bring the score to 7-4 in favor of Daytona.
Riley Adams belted a two run homerun over the wall in left center in the eigh to slash the Daytona lead to 7-6. It was the first homerun for Adams since the Blue Jays home opener back on April 7th. Dunedin threatened but ultimately fell short in the ninth leaving the tying and go ahead runs in scoring position as Kacy Clemens struck out swinging to end the ballgame and give Joel Kuhnel his fifth save of the year.
T.J. Friedl finished the night a homerun shy of the cycle, while Jose Siri, Mitch Nay, and Calten Daal each registered two hits for the Tortugas.
With the win, Daytona improves their record to 25-16 and improve their Florida State League best home record to 14-5. On the flip side, Dunedin falls to 6-17 on the road and now sit eight games out of first place in the North Division.
Dunedin will be looking for their fifth series win of the season in the rubber matchup of the three game set tomorrow evening. LHP Tayler Saucedo (2-2, 4.37) gets the ball for the Jays against LHP Ty Boyles (2-2, 6.93) throwing for Daytona. The first pitch is set for 5:35 E.T.
