THE SERIES ... Lakeland continues its six-game road trip with three games at Dunedin on June 26-28. All three games are set for 6:30 p.m. start times and all games may be heard on the Blue Jays’ website at www.dunedinbluejays.com.
THE FLYING TIGERS (31-42; 1-4, 5th, 3.5 GB) ... Lakeland is still looking to get back to the playing ways that saw the team win nine in a row from June 3-13. The team has now lost eight of its last nine games after being swept by Dunedin in three games on June 23-25. Pitching has been the problem of last as the starting rotation has surrendered 27 earned runs in the last 35.1 innings over eight starts for a 6.88 ERA. The bullpen has been tagged for 36 runs – 29 earned – in the last 34.0 innings over 10 games for a 7.68 earned run average. Wilsen Palacios is fifth in the Florida State League with 71 strikeouts and fifth with 8.62 strikeouts per nine innings. Kyle Ryan is second with 86.0 innings pitched, fourth among FSL starters with 10.57 baserunners allowed per nine innings and fifth a .235 opponent’s batting average. At .244, the Flying Tigers have the second team batting average in the league.
THE BLUE JAYS (37-29; 1-5, 6th, 4.0 game lead) ... Dunedin won the first half by winning its last four games to eclipse Brevard County by one-half game. The second half is a different story so far, as the Blue Jays have lost four straight since opening the second half with a 1-1 mark. One reason for the disparity may be the promotion of Andy Burns who was fifth in the FSL with a .327 batting average. Burns was tied for the league lead with 81 hits and third with 53 runs batted in. Jon Berti, who is still with the club, has stolen a league-high 31 bases – seven more than the second place player. Scott Copeland ranks second in the league with a 2.75 ERA and a 6-3 record and has a league-high 91.2 innings pitched. Jesse Hernandez is sixth with a 3.04 ERA while Blake McFarland is third with 12 saves. Dunedin’s staff ERA of 3.32 is second best in the league.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/26 - RHP Josh Carr (0-1, 5.40) ... Carr did not factor into the decision in his last start on June 20 at Clearwater after allowing three runs on eight hits on 4.0 innings. He is 0-1 with a 7.15 earned run average in three starts after 3.2 innings of scoreless relief in his Lakeland debut on May 25. Carr whiffed five in his debut with no walks, but has struck out just four and walked eight in his last 11.1 innings.
6/27 - LHP Kyle Ryan (6-5, 3.45) ... Ryan has two no decisions in his last two starts while allowing six hits and striking out six in each game. In his last start against Clearwater at home on June 22, he allowed four earned runs over 5.0 innings. Ryan has a 3-4 road record with a 3.92 ERA. He has two previous starts against Dunedin. On April 13, he was tagged for seven runs on 10 hits in 6.0 innings for the loss, but came back in his next start, also against the Jays, on April 18 by tossing 8.0 shutout innings of one-hit ball, but did not get a win.
6/28 - Wilsen Palacios (3-5, 3.91) ... Palacios took the loss in his last start on June 23 at Clearwater after surrendering three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. He was 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his four previous starts. Palacios is averaging 6.0 strikeouts per game over his last eight starts. He has two previous starts against the Blue Jays. He took the loss on April 12 after allowing four runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. He again took the hill against the Jays on May 28 getting a no-decision despite holding Dunedin to two runs on four hits over 5.0 innings.
SEASON SERIES ... Dunedin has won seven of the previous nine meetings including two of the three played at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium back on April 12-14 and five of the six played at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Blue Jays won the first two games by a combined 15-4 score while the remaining seven games were all decided by two runs or fewer.
RUNS HARD TO COME BY ... The Blue Jays have scored just nine runs in the last six games. The clubs was shut out once and held to a single tally in three other games.
TOUGH TO RING UP ... Jason Krizan is the third toughest to strike out in the FSL with one strikeouts per 10.55 plate appearances while Tyler Hanover is fifth with 8.91 plate appearances per nine innings.
KEEPIN’ IN THE PARK ... Fans of the long ball may want to skip this series as Lakeland has hit just 29 homers this season, second lowest total in the Florida State League while Dunedin has banged just 36 round trippers, third fewest in the league. The Flying Tigers have not homered in a game since June 13 when Francisco Martinez, Michael Hernandez and Steven Moya all went deep.
STREAKIN’ ... Tyler Hanover brings a seven-game hit streak into this series in which he is 9x29 (.310) with six runs scored.
EVEN STEVEN ... Steven Moya has carried a hot bat to the plate in the last five games, going 10x21 (.476) with three homers and seven runs batted in. He has also scored six runs in that span.
MULTIPLE CHADS ... Chad Wright has had multiple hits in five of his last eight games including getting three hits on June 24 at Daytona. He has gone 12x32 (.375) since June 17 with five runs scored. Wright is getting it done with the glove as well, leading all FSL outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with no errors in 140 total fielding chances.
SELECT OPPONENT TROUBLES ... Lakeland is a combined 6-27 against Brevard County (1-8), Dunedin (2-7), and Daytona (3-12), but is 25-15 against the rest of the Florida State League. The Flying Tigers are 5-3 against Clearwater and 6-4 versus Tampa in the North Division. In the South, Lakeland is 3-0 against both Charlotte and St. Lucie, 3-1 against Bradenton and have split four-game series against Fort Myers and Palm Beach. Only Jupiter, at 3-1, holds a winning record in games against Lakeland.
GOTTA GET THE HITS ... Lakeland is 21-9 when outhitting its opponents and 6-27 when being outhit. The Flying Tigers are 4-6 in those games in which they match their opponents in the hit column.
THIRSTY THURSDAYS ... The Flying Tigers have not drank from the win column much on Thursdays as the club is just 2-10 prior to the weekend.
LOCAL BOY REJOINS CLUB ... Joe Rogers, who played his prep career at Winter Haven High School, rejoins Lakeland after being on the disabled list from April 12 to June 20. Rogers made one relief appearance for the Gulf Coast League Tigers on June 21, tossing two innings and allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
HERNANDEZ TAKES OFF ... Michael Hernandez was promoted to AA Erie on Wednesday. The Flying Tigers third baseman was batting .224 in 43 games with Lakeland with nine doubles, three triple and was tied for the team lead with five homers. He also drove in 23 runs for Lakeland.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, who was inducted into the Florida State League Hall of Fame in 2012, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,776-1,635 record entering the Dunedin series. Last season, he led Lakeland to the 2012 Florida State League Championship to record his fourth overall championship and his third in the FSL. He also led the 2001 Brevard County to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakeland Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland returns home on June 29-July 1 for a three-game series against the Brevard County Manatees.
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