Dunedin's Perdomo ties season high for K's

Angel Perdomo was wild as he slogged through his previous start, so when it came down to making adjustments for Friday's outing, he went largely with two pitches.
Relying heavily on fastballs and sliders, the Blue Jays' No. 20 prospect matched season highs with seven strikeouts over six scoreless innings to lead Class A Advanced Dunedin to a 3-1 win over Lakeland at Joker Marchant Stadium. The left-hander surrendered three hits and walked one. 

Gameday box score
Blue Jays hitting coach Corey Hart, who has been filling as manager on the team's road trip, knew from the outset that Perdomo (4-3) had his best stuff.
"He commanded his pitches well, he commanded the bottom of the strike zone," Hart said. "He kept the ball down on them and stayed below them a lot of the time. … You could tell he was locked in."
That was a big change from Perdomo's outing on Sunday against St. Lucie as he gave up four runs -- three earned -- on three hits with a season-high five walks in 3 2/3 innings. Friday's outing marked the first time in 2017 that Perdomo allowed fewer than six baserunners. He threw 63 of 98 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA from 4.15 to 3.65.
"He wasn't getting into deep counts early," Hart said. "When he struggles, he tends to run deep counts and gets into counts where they can hit. So, the count stayed in his favor and he was filling up the strike zone. His deception -- he's so tall, he's got such a good angle on it. When he's down in the zone ... he's tough to hit."
The 6-foot-6 native of the Dominican Republic recorded five strikeouts while retiring 12 of the first 13 batters. Six were retired on two pitches or fewer during that span.
Perdomo struggled with two outs in the fifth. Joey Pankake reached on a fielder's choice and Arvicent Perez lined a single to center to put runners on the corners. But the southpaw got Jose Azocar to ground out to second. 
One inning later, with the game still scoreless, Perdomo encountered more trouble. Dustin Frailey and Luis Valdes reached on one-out singles and Will Allen walked with two outs to load the bases. Perdomo got out of the jam when  Zac Shepherd flied out after a seven-pitch battle.
Hart was impressed.
"He was down to his last hitter because of his pitch count, not because the bases were loaded," Hart said. "He was down to his last hitter and he bowed his neck and came and got the guy. It's a credit to him. He came right after him. He was able to execute his pitch. That was the biggest thing to me, with him being a young guy.
"He just really executed what he was trying to do out there. He made it out of there. It's what you want to see because we're trying to develop these kids into Major League players. If they're going to pitch at the highest level, then they're always going to have to develop that ability."
Dunedin broke the scoreless tie with a three-run seventh, capped off by a two-run double by Lane Thomas off former Major League outfielder-turned-pitcher Anthony Gose (0-1). 

"That's always good when a team does that," Hart said. "They came in and wanted to get [Perdomo] some runs and he ended up getting his win for it. When he left it was tied and in the top half we get him three. I was glad to see that."
Adonys Cardona replaced Perdomo and was charged with a run in the seventh. Tom Robson and Daniel Young struck out two apiece in the eighth and ninth, respectively, for Dunedin.
No. 6 Tigers prospect Kyle Funkhouser fanned nine and allowed six hits over six shutout innings for Lakeland.