Stars Shine, Jays Win Series Opener

The Blue Jays came back home tonight to start a 12-game home stand at TD

Ballpark, taking on the Clearwater Threshers in game 1 of their 6 game series. Dunedin,

having lost 5 of 6 last week on the road against Bradenton, welcomed in the red-hot

Threshers, winners of 8 of their last 9. But the biggest storyline was Toronto Blue Jays

star, Teoscar Hernandez, being in the lineup to rehab an oblique injury.

Hernandez, the 2-time Silver Slugger Award winner, is currently on the 10-Day IL,

and due to bad weather in Buffalo, the organization sent him down to the sunshine to

get his feet wet about a quarter mile away from the Gulf. Hernandez put on a well

deserved show for the fans, going 2/4 with a 1st inning, 2-run blast on just the second

pitch he had seen in 20 days since being injured, to put the Blue Jays in front early.

The Threshers tied up the game in the 4th after Hao Yu Lee singled in his second

RBI of the night, scoring Yhoswar Garcia, off of Connor Cooke. The score would hold

steady until the 8th when Gabby Martinez led off the inning with a double, later trading

places with Roque Salinas who drove in his first RBI since joining Dunedin this past

Thursday.

Matt Svanson was outstanding out of the pen last night, throwing 5 innings of

shut-out baseball and keeping the Threshers lineup at bay, earning his first win of the

season and dropping his ERA to 2.16 on the year. Martinez and Hernandez both

recorded 2 hits tonight, as did Estiven Machado and Adrian Pinto. A well-rounded

performance saw the DJays claim their 8th win of the season, starting the series and

the home stand on a very favorable note.