Loveless Triples in 8-2 Loss at Clearwater

Clearwater, FL - Brandon Leibrandt held the Blue Jays to one hit in six innings to lead the Clearwater Threshers to an 8-2 victory at Bright House Field on Saturday night.

Leibrandt retired the first 10 hitters he faced, striking out five. Derrick Loveless led off the fifth with the first hit for the Blue Jays, a triple to the gap in right center. He scored one batter later when David Harris delivered an RBI ground out to make it 7-1.

Loveless had two of the five Blue Jays hits on the night and scored both runs. Jorge Saez brought him in with a sacrifice-fly in the seventh inning.

The Threshers started fast and blitzed Dunedin for five runs in the first two innings, before adding two more in the fourth. Andrew Pullin and Dylan Cozens each hit two-run homers.

Leibrandt (2-1) struck out nine to earn his second win. Brad Allen struggled, giving up seven runs in just four innings of work to fall to 0-3. Brady Dragmire pitched a scoreless inning out of the Blue Jays bullpen and started a 1-6-3 double play.     

The Blue Jays conclude their four-game series with Clearwater tomorrow afternoon and look for a split. Lefty Jayson Aquino will start for Dunedin. First pitch is at 1:00 p.m. and the action can be heard on dunedinbluejays.com.