Blue Jays Win Series-Finale 5-1, Split Road Trip Against Palm Beach

Jupiter, FL — The Blue Jays took the series-finale in their series against the Palm Beach Cardinals 5-1 Sunday afternoon, splitting the series and getting back to within a game of .500.

Dunedin struck first early on. Adrian Pinto led of the game with an infield single back to the pitcher, and advanced to second the very next play on a very similar come-backer off the bat of Roque Salinas that Cardinals starter Joseph King was able to handle. Then with two outs, Ryan McCarty put one through the middle for a base hit, scoring Pinto and giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.

Eliander Alcalde got the start for the Blue Jays, and looked as good as he has all year. His only mistake came in the third inning. After walking Cardinals shortstop Lisandro Espinoza, Alcalde attempted a pickoff back to first, but threw it wide of Glenn Santiago, allowing Espinoza to advance two bases. Then three pitches later, Alcalde yanked a slider that snuck through the legs of Sammy Hernandez, getting back to the backstop and scoring Espinoza from third and tying the game up, 1-1.

That did it for the scoring for a while. Alcalde finished out the fourth before giving way to Harry Rutkowski. Rutkowski sat down the first five batters he faced before giving up a single and a walk, but stranded the two runners with a strikeout to end the sixth. Ian Churchill entered in the seventh, striking out his first matchup before allowing back-to-back walks, but induced a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the potential jam.

Entering the eighth, still tied 1-1, Dunedin’s lineup came up big. Pinto drew a leadoff walk and was exchanged out for Salinas on a fielder’s choice. Then Tucker Toman singled to left and McCarty was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Santiago with only one out. Santiago drilled the second pitch he saw to the right field corner, clearing the bases on a 3-RBI triple and giving the Blue Jays a 4-1 lead. Robert Robertis tacked on the fifth and final run on a single up the middle, scoring Santiago from third and making it 5-1.

Churchill came back out for the bottom of the inning, getting through unscathed before passing the torch off to Grayson Thurman. Palm Beach kept kicking, but with one out and a man on first, Darlin Moquete hit what looked to be a base hit to right, but Roque Salinas made an incredibly heads-up play, noticing that Moquete was slow out of the box and gunning him down at first for the rare 9-3 putout. Thurman did walk the next batter, but then struck out Espinoza on three pitches, giving Dunedin the 5-1 win.

Dunedin now heads back home to TD Ballpark for a day off on Monday before they welcome in the division-leading Bradenton Marauders on Tuesday, April 25th. First pitch for the series-opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and as always, will be live on the Dunedin Blue Jays Radio Network with coverage beginning at 6:15 p.m.