Lawrie, Osuna and Gillespie lead DJays to W
DUNEDIN, FL - The Blue Jays (18-23, 64-46) defeated the Palm Beach Cardinals (26-15, 62-48) 10-8 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on Friday night.
Major League rehabbers 2B Brett Lawrie and RF Cole Gillespie each started for the D-Jays. Lawrie went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored twice. He was replaced by 2B Christian Lopes in the top of the seventh inning. Gillespie played the entire game and finished 1-for-5 with a two-RBI double.
RHP Roberto Osuna made his 2014 debut for the Jays. In his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2013, Osuna pitched 3.1 innings and allowed three runs on four hits and a walk. He also struck out six batters.
Luke Weaver (L, 0-1), the 27th overall pick in the 2014 Draft, made his debut for the Cardinals. He only lasted 1.2 innings while surrendering five runs.
The Jays scored first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Lawrie led off with a single. LF Nick Baligod walked, and CF Emilio Guerrero singled to left. Lawrie scored on Guerrero's hit, but Baligod was thrown out at home to end the inning.
In the second inning Luke Voit singled and scored on David Popkins' triple. Popkin then scored on a groundout.
In the bottom of the inning DH Shane Opitz singled and scored on a C Jorge Saez homer, his first of the season. Lawrie then walked, and Baligod singled. Gillespie then doubled home both men. Opitz hit an RBI single the next inning that scored Guerrero to give Dunedin a 6-2 cushion.
Popkins doubled in the fourth and scored on a Gerwuins Valazco single in the fourth, and Voit homered in the fifth cutting the Cardinals' deficit to 6-4. The D-Jays responded with a Saez RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Guerrero hit a run-scoring double in the seventh followed by a 3B Gustavo Pierre homerun, an opposite field line drive to left that scored two and extended Dunedin's lead to 10-4.
Palm Beach scored four runs in the ninth. Nick Martini hit a three-run homerun off LHP Tony Davis (H, 3), and RHP Justin Jackson (H, 7) surrendered a solo homer to Bruce Caldwell.
LHP Griffin Murphy (W, 2-0) allowed one run in 1.2 innings of relief. Davis pitched 3.0 innings, and was nearly perfect until the ninth inning, when two singles and Martini's homer chased him from the game. Jackson pitched just 0.1 inning, and RHP Arik Sikula (S, 25) retired the final two men of the game and earned his FSL-leading 25th save.
The Blue Jays continue a four-game series with the Palm Beach Cardinals on Saturday night at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium at 6:30 p.m. EST. RHP Jesse Hernandez (5-9, 5.23) will start for the Jays and be opposed by Palm Beach's RHP Nick Petree (5-3, 2.22).