Kevin Smith Joins 20-20 Club In 4-3 Win Over Lakeland
For the first time in 18 years, the Toronto Blue Jays organization has a player with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season in their Minor League system.After hitting seven homers and stealing 12 bags with the Lansing Lugnuts to open the 2018 season, SS Kevin Smith
For the first time in 18 years, the Toronto Blue Jays organization has a player with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season in their Minor League system.
After hitting seven homers and stealing 12 bags with the Lansing Lugnuts to open the 2018 season, SS
His 20th home run of the season, making him the first Blue Jays prospect since Chad Mottola in 2000 and just the seventh Jays prospect in the last 30 years to join the 20/20 club, could not have come at a better time for Dunedin. Locked in a 0-0 pitching duel in the sixth inning of tonight's matchup with division foe Lakeland, Smith belted a fastball from top prospect
"He was coming at me with fastballs early, which he'd been doing all game. I was looking fastball away and he threw one I could get a barrel on. I'm glad I could come through for the team," Smith said after the game.
The home run busted open what had previously been an impressive pitching battle between Dunedin's RHP
That changed quickly in the sixth as 3B
With a three-run lead, Eller turned the ball over to the bullpen having thrown 6.0 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits, no walks, and striking out two. With his six shutout innings tonight, his ERA as a starting pitcher in 2018 falls to a microscopic 0.65.
RHP
In the eighth, RHP
Lakeland did not go down quietly. With one out in the top of the ninth, Burdeaux knocked a single. Scivicque followed with a home run into the bullpen in right to pull the Flying Tigers within one at 4-3. After a walk, Custodio used a ground out and a strike out to end the threat and preserve the win for Dunedin, earning his first Florida State League save.
As for Smith, he finished the game 2-4 with 3 RBI and added a stolen base in the eighth for good measure, giving him 20 homers and 26 steals on the season. While the accomplishment of joining the 20/20 club is exciting, Smith knows the first place Blue Jays have more important work to do in the final month of the season as they look to reach the playoffs for the third straight year and defend their 2017 championship.
"It's pretty cool, but there's still a lot of stuff I want to work on. It's definitely exciting, but we've got work to do this year."