Bullpen Gem Leads To Walk-Off Win

The Dunedin Blue Jays entered Saturday unsure who would start on the mound for them on Saturday evening against Fort Myers. A string of promotions to members of the starting rotation had left the team without a rested starter for the finale of their three-game set with the Miracle.
The night ended with a walk-off single by Joshua Palacios to give Dunedin a 2-1 win, but it was the work done by members of the Blue Jays bullpen that was the highlight of the game. A quartet of bullpen arms held Fort Myers scoreless until the ninth inning and allowed just four hits in the game, continuing a dominant May during which the Jays relief corps has pitched to a 1.66 ERA over 43.1 innings.
LHP Juliandry Higuera was called on to start for Dunedin, his first start of the season after nine relief appearances. Having gone more than 2.0 innings in a game only twice this season, Higuera provided the Blue Jays with 3.0 shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out one. 
Higuera had stiff competition on the mound from Fort Myers, as rehabbing Major Leaguer Trevor May was making a rehab start for the Miracle. May matched Higuera out-for-out, going 3.0 innings as well, allowing just one hit, and striking out five. 
Higuerra exited after three with the score tied 0-0 having thrown a season-high 45 pitches. The Blue Jays turned to LHP Matthew Gunter to bridge the middle innings and he delivered far more than that. A call-up from Extended Spring Training earlier in the day, Gunter thrived in his first taste of full-season ball. The lefty befuddled the Miracle for 4.0 innings, allowing no hits and striking out three. He walked just one batter and finished his night with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Blue Jays scored the game's first run in the sixth inning. LF Eduard Pinto led off the inning with a single, his second of the day. The two hits tonight stretched his current hitting streak to eight games, the longest by a Dunedin batter this season. A ground out by SS Logan Warmoth moved Pinto to second. 2B Bradley Jones drove in Pinto by powering a double to the right field gap to put Dunedin up 1-0.
The lead held until the Miracle were down to their final out in the ninth inning. Travis Blankenhorn led off the top of the ninth with a ground-rule double to straight away centerfield off RHP Connor Eller, the first hit by a Miracle batter since the second inning. Eller, who had tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning, then recorded the next two batters on a ground out and a strike out. The ground out moved Blankenhorn to third, putting the tying run 90 feet from home with two outs in the ninth. Eller induced a weak ground ball to third base off the bat of Jimmy Kerrigan that could have ended the game, but Jays 3B John La Prise was unable to get a grasp on the chopper to make a throw to first. The tying run scored on the play. 
After a single by Taylor Grzelakowski, the Blue Jays turned to Ty Tice to try to strand the two base runners. Tice did just that, getting Jared Foster to ground out to second to end the threat.
Having watched the tying run score on a ground ball single that he was unable to cleanly field, La Prise quickly returned the favor to the Miracle in the home half of the ninth. With one out in the inning, he lined a single to left. A fielding error by the Miracle allowed the next batter, Nash Knight, to reach and moved La Prise into scoring position at second. D.J. Davis moved both runners over with a grounder to the right side, putting the winning run at third. Palacios ended the game by lining a single into left field, scoring La Prise, and giving Dunedin a 2-1 victory.
The win is Dunedin's fourth straight and improves their record to 15-20 on the season. The winning streak has propeled the Blue Jays from last place in the standings in the FSL North Division to third, 7.0 games out of first. After an off day tomorrow, the Blue Jays will head to Tampa for their first matchups with the newly named Tarpons this season.