Jays Open Post-All-Star Slate With Two Wins

The Dunedin Blue Jays started strong after the All-Star Game by taking a pair of games from the St. Lucie Mets on Monday evening at Dunedin Stadium. The Blue Jays finished what they started back in April by taking game one of tonight's doubleheader by a 9-5 score, completing a game started on April 15th that was suspended by rain. In game two, the Blue Jays used a clutch 3-run home run by Josh Palacios to erase a deficit and win 3-2.
It was a strange sight for fans to see the Blue Jays as the visiting team on the scoreboard at Dunedin Stadium in game one as the Blue Jays finished their Jackie Robinson Day game started on the road at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach against the Mets. Back in April, the Blue Jays had jumped to a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning, and they had no problem finishing the win tonight by a 9-5 score.
LHP Tayler Saucedo took the mound on his 25th birthday this evening looking to build off the 3.0 shutout innings he'd tossed back in April. Although he ran into a few hiccups tonight, he finished with a quality start and a victory, allowing four runs (three earned) over 4.0 innings tonight to give himself a final line of 7.0 innings pitched, nine hits, four runs, three earned runs, and five strikeouts for the game.
The Blue Jays offered additional run support for Saucedo after spotting him the 6-0 lead back in April. In the fifth, RF Rodrigo Orozco and C Alberto Mineo led off with a pair of singles. After a double play erased Mineo, CF Joshua Palacios knocked the first of three hits on the night to score Orozco. 
In the seventh, a walk to Mineo and singles by LF Eduard Pinto and Palacios pushed another run across. A double by Palacios in the ninth plated another run, scoring Mineo again who had reached on a fielder's choice.
The Mets scored twice in the fifth on a single, a triple, and an RBI groundout and again in the sixth on a solo homer. Two doubles in the seventh pushed another run across, and a walk and a double in the ninth plated their fifth run in the ninth. Despite the St. Lucie rallies, they never pulled close thanks to Dunedin's big opening lead.
RHP Ty Tice tossed a scoreless eighth inning before RHP Jackson McClelland tossed the ninth for the Blue Jays to close out the win.
After the high scoring affair in game one that saw 24 hits between the two teams and 14 runs, game two was a much quieter ballgame.
RHP Connor Eller made a spot start for the Blue Jays and provided three quality innings. He walked the first two batters of the game, but a nifty play by SS Logan Warmoth and a strikeout allowed him to escape unscathed. Eller quickly erased a walk in the second by forcing a double play ball.
The Mets got on the board first in the third, knocking their only hit of the day off Eller, a solo home run that just cleared the wall in left by Luis Carpio.
Opposing Eller, RHP Harol Gonzalez pitched well for the Mets. He held the Blue Jays scoreless over the first four innings, allowing just three hits. In the fifth, however, the Blue Jays figured Gonzalez out.
3B Nash Knight opened the fifth by lacing a liner to right. Mets RF Wuilmer Becerra made a great sliding catch to rob Knight and record the first out, but the Blue Jays would build off Knight's lead and continue to hit the ball hard all inning. Pinto followed with a single and Orozco knocked a base hit of his own to put two runners on for the Blue Jays. 
Entering tonight's games, Josh Palacios had been one of the Florida State League's most clutch batters, hitting .325 with runners on base and .377 with runners in scoring position. With Pinto and Orozco on base, he continued his hot streak in big situations by drilling a three-run home run high off the batters eye in center field to give Dunedin a 3-1 lead.
LHP Juliandry Higuera provided three scoreless innings of relief behind Eller, allowing just one hit while striking out two, earning his second win of the season. RHP William Ouellette picked up his third save, allowing one run in the seventh inning but stranding a pair of runners on base to end the game.
After going 3-3 in game one, Palacios was 2-3 in game two. Rodrigo Orozco reached base four times in the first game, working three walks and adding a single before going 1-2 in the second game.
The wins improve Dunedin's record to 29-37 on the year with two games remaining in the first half. St. Lucie falls to 27-38 with the losses. The two teams will square off again tomorrow with RHP Patrick Murphy (4-4, 3.26 ERA) looking to build off a stellar start to June on the mound (2-0, 0.50 ERA).