Yankees even series with 6-2 victory
Dunedin (67-65, 26-36 2nd half) got a great start from Chad Beck, but in the fifth inning of a scoreless game, Tampa took advantage of a couple of mistakes from the big right-hander, with Melky Mesa getting hit by a pitch and Myron Leslie drawing a walk to lead off the frame.
Addison Maruszak then followed with a sacrifice bunt to put runners in scoring position with one away, and with Beck facing Jack Rye, the Tampa (75-53, 39-21 2nd half) left fielder just reached out on a fastball away and poked it down the left field line for a two-run double. It was Tampa's first hit of the ballgame and gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Dunedin would battle back in the sixth against Sean Black, who was making his first start of the season for Tampa after being called up from Low-A Charleston. Black cruised through five innings before a Welinton Ramirez double with one away chased him out of the game.
Preston Claiborne then came in and allowed a single to Kenny Wilson to put runners at the corners, but struck out Ryan Schimpf and Mark Sobolewski to end the Dunedin threat.
In the seventh, Mike McDade wasted little time in getting the D-Jays back in the game, swatting his 21st homer of the season to make it a 2-1 game. It was the second straight game with a home run for the power-hitting first baseman.
Dunedin kept the good times rolling after a one-out walk from Jon Talley later in the inning, which brought in the only switch-pitcher in professional baseball, Tampa's Pat Venditte (4-1).
The ambidextrous pitcher has the lowest batting average against amongst FSL relievers this season, but it didn't faze Concepcion Rodriguez, who doubled off Venditte to bring in Talley and tie the game at 2-2.
Tampa quickly answered in the eighth inning thanks to three singles to lead things off, two coming on bunts towards third base. Jose Pirela then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Jose Gil and give Tampa a 3-2 lead, a play that moved the other two runners up 90 feet each into scoring position.
Reliever Dan DeLucia (3-2) would then walk Bradley Suttle intentionally to load the bases, but it turned out to be a moot point against Zoilo Almonte, who broke an 0-for-6 slide against the Blue Jays with a sharp single to right field, scoring two runs and extending the lead to 5-2. Almonte replaced Mesa in the bottom of the fifth inning, who left the game after getting hit by that pitch from Beck earlier in the game.
Tampa added their final run in the ninth inning on a Trent Lockwood sacrifice fly.
Dunedin will now look to finish off the regular season home schedule on a good note Sunday evening when they host Tampa in the third and final game of their series together. The D-Jays will send Joel Carreno to the hill for the start, just two strikeouts away from becoming the new record holder for most strikeouts in a season by a Blue Jay.