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 has only picked up his impressive pace since being promoted to Dunedin, hitting 13 home runs and stealing 14 bases with the Blue Jays.
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 Matt Manning over the wall in left to put Dunedin up 3-0.
"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 Connor Eller and Manning for Lakeland. Through the first five innings, Eller had allowed just three hits while Manning had only given up one base knock.
That changed quickly in the sixth as 3B Yeltsin Gudino opened the inning with Dunedin's second hit of the game. CF Joshua Palacios followed immidiately with a double over the centerfielder's head to put two runners in scoring position for Smith. The budding star promptly drilled a three-run shot into the trees beyond the left field fence to break the scoreless tie.
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 William Ouellette entered in the seventh. A leadoff double by Dylan Burdeaux and single by Kade Scivicque put a run on the scoreboard for Lakeland with no outs, but Ouellette settled in and sat down the next three hitters on a strike out and two fly outs.
In the eighth, RHP Claudio Custodio entered and set down the Flying Tigers in order. In the home half of the inning, singles by Gudino and Smith coupled with a passed ball allowed an insurance run to score for the Blue Jays that would prove to be crucial.
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."