Dunedin Drops Playoff Opener
By Jay Blue
The Dunedin Blue Jays dropped the opener of their best-of-three playoff series 2-1 against the Tampa Yankees in 13 innings as the Florida State League playoffs got under way.

Starter Luis Santos was outstanding for the Dunedin Blue Jays, giving up just one run (as the clubs traded single runs in the third inning) and dominating the Yankees lineup for eight innings. Santos threw 102 pitches (69 for strikes) and allowed only four hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts (as the Yankees struck out 18 times as a team but still managed to win).

The Yankees scored their first run, getting two singles to lead off the third inning and then got a fielder’s choice ground out to second base that scored the runner from third.

In the bottom of the third inning, D.J. Davis led off with a double and moved to third on Jorge Flores’s groundout and was promptly singled home by the next batter, Anthony Alford.

Squandered opportunities filled the rest of the game for the Blue Jays. Flores singled and stole second base in the sixth inning but the Blue Jays weren’t able to score him and in the seventh, Ryan McBroom was caught stealing second base after a leadoff walk, wasting Max Pentecost’s triple right afterwards. With Pentecost on third, Yefrey Ramirez struck out Dickie Joe Thon and Danny Jansen to end the inning. D.J. Davis’s leadoff walk was stranded in the bottom of the 11th and Jonathan Davis walked to leadoff the bottom of the 12th, stole second and was caught stealing third.

Dusty Isaacs didn’t allow a hit, walking only one, taking over for the ninth and 10th innings, striking out four. The Yankees broke the stalemate in the 13th, getting a single and a double off of Chris Rowley and the fielding error by D.J. Davis allowed the run to score. Rowley was in his third inning of work and he gave up four hits and two walks over three innings with four strikeouts and the unearned run.

Player of the Game: Luis Santos

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