Clearwater, FL.--- The Blue Jays looked to get one final victory over the St. Lucie Mets to end the season series on a good note. A total of nine runs were scored across the first two games and only two by the Dunedin offense. All of this changed quickly with
Clearwater, FL.--- The Blue Jays looked to get one final victory over the St. Lucie Mets to end the season series on a good note.
A total of nine runs were scored across the first two games and only two by the Dunedin offense. All of this changed quickly with big 1st innings from both sides. The Mets started things off with double to left field that drove in Blake Tiberi. Turner Larkins surrendered a couple of more runs with groundouts in the infield, and the Blue Jays were down early 3-0. They didn't take long to come back as they jumped on starter Kyle Wilson early in the ballgame. Dunedin took pitches with the inconsistency of Wilson and walked the first two batters. Alejandro Kirk (3-5, 2 2B, 1 RBI) drove in the first run doubling to left field right over the left fielder's head. Demi Orimoloye drove in Cullen Large with a groundout, and a single by Norberto Obeso tied things up through one with a hard hit single passed the shortstop.
In the next two innings things slowed down a lot with the pitching of Larkins and Joe Cavallaro settling in for both teams. St. Lucie grabbed their lead back in the 4th with a Nick Meyer hit by pitch and a Hansel Moreno triple in the corner of right field. Dunedin fought their way back in the 5th to get their first lead of the series. A couple of singles from Large and Orimoloye sent Ryan Noda to the plate, and he unloaded a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall to give the Blue Jays a 6-4 advantage. It was his second home run in the last seven days after having not hit a homer since June 8th.
The back and forth continued in the 6th with Larkins on the mound he gave up a walk and two double that tied the game back at six by Manny Rodriguez. He would hold the tie and finish his day with five strikeouts and six earned runs in 5.0 IP. His offense didn't let him down as the lead was snatched back in the bottom of the 6th. Samad Taylor put a drive into his fourth home run of the season to break the tie.
Dunedin bought some insurance in the 7th and 8th innings. Alejandro Kirk reached third after swiftly stealing second base, his fourth stolen base of his career, and Chavez Young singled him home to go up 8-6. The final runs would come by a double from Demi Orimoloye (2-5, 3 RBI) to plate Cal Stevenson and Alejandro Kirk, and Ryan Noda (2-3, HR, 4 RBI) added a double to bring in Orimoloye for the 11-6 advantage.
Jackson Rees finished up the strong pitching display from the bullpen where Kyle Weatherly didn't allow a hit in his three innings of work to get his second win, and no runs were scored for the Mets in the last four innings. The Blue Jays are back home on Tuesday after an off day on Monday to welcome the Lakeland Flying Tigers at 6:30 PM.
