Charlotte comeback falls short in 6-5 loss

DUNEDIN, Fla. (August 4, 2018) - Josh Palacios' sliding catch on the warning track in the ninth inning denied the Charlotte Stone Crabs a come-from-behind victory in a 6-5 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays Saturday at Dunedin Stadium.
Trailing 6-5 entering the inning, the Stone Crabs (59-48, 25-15) loaded the bases on two walks and an error. With two outs, Jake Fraley hammered a long drive to right center. Palacios made a spectacular grab to save three runs and rob the game from Charlotte.
The loss coupled with a Fort Myers win means the Stone Crabs' lead in the division has been trimmed to 0.5 games with 29 contests left to play.
In a scoreless game in the bottom of the third, Blue Jays (59-51, 28-14) catcher Riley Adams singled before Ivan Castillo drew a walk. Kacy Clemens followed with a single to the right side to make it 1-0 Dunedin.
The Stone Crabs battled back to tie the game in the top of the fourth on a Tristan Gray solo home run.
In the bottom of the inning, Rodrigo Orozco walked against Charlotte reliever Jose Disla (2-1) with one out before Josh Palacios tripled off the wall in center to give the Blue Jays the lead back at 2-1. After a walk, Blake Lundquist flied out to deep right to score Palacios and make it 3-1. Adams and Castillo followed with two-out base hits to push the Dunedin lead to 5-1.
In the top of the fifth, a Rene Pinto double and Miles Mastrobuoni single set up Josh Lowe's sacrifice fly to right to make it 5-2.
In the sixth, Gray pulled a double to right before Pinto smacked a run-scoring two-bagger to the left field corner to bring the score to 5-3.
After the Blue Jays added a run on a Brock Lundquist home run, Charlotte pulled to within one on a two-run single from Jermaine Palacios in the eighth.
The Stone Crabs will look to salvage the finale of the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Coverage starts at 12:45 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.