THE SERIES ... The first two games of this series take place Thursday and Friday at 6:30 pm in Dunedin with the two teams heading to Lakeland on Saturday for the 6 pm series finale. The Blue Jays took two of the three games in the earlier series winning 5-3 in game one and 12-4 in game three. The Flying Tigers won the middle game 4-3 when Tyler Hanover tripled and scored the winning run on an error on the play.
THE FLYING TIGERS (16-10, 2nd, 4.0 GB) ... After holding on for an 11-10 win over Daytona in game one of their series, the Flying Tigers outscored the Cubs 18-2 in the next two games to sweep the series. The opener featured grand slams by both teams in a back-and-forth affair. In game two, Edgar De La Rosa held the Cubs to one hit over 7.0 innings while Guido Knudson preserved the shutout with two scoreless innings of relief. In game three, Lakeland led 11-0 heading into the ninth before winning 11-2. The series sweep was the Flying Tigers third of the season and puts Lakeland into sole possession of second place, 4.0 games behind Dunedin and 2.0 games ahead of Brevard County and Tampa.
THE BLUE JAYS (20-6, 1st, 4.0 gm lead) ... Dunedin, which has the most wins of any team in the minors, was shut out by Tampa 6-0 on Wednesday to see its five-game win streak snapped. The Blue Jays winning percentage of .769 entering this series, is second only to Hagerstown (18-5, .783), the Nationals’ A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. Matt Boyd leads the Florida State League in wins (4) and ERA (0.29) and with 37 strikeouts, is second to teammate Taylor Cole, who leads the league with 40 Ks. Daniel Norris is third in the FSL with a 0.75 ERA to go with his 3-0 record while closer Arik Sikula is tied for the minor league lead with nine saves. Dalton Pompey is fourth in the FSL with a .354 average and tied for first with 14 stolen bases while Dwight Smith, Jr., is right behind at .330 on the year. K.C. Hobson is tied for the FSL lead with 27 RBI
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/01 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (1-0, 2.42 ERA) ... Eichhorn is making his third start of the season. In his last start on April 26 at Tampa, he picked up his first win of the year after holding the Yankees to one run on five hits over 5.0 innings. Eichhorn is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two previous starts after going 0-0 with a 1.46 ERA in three relief appearances.
5/02 - RHP Jake Thompson (2-1, 1.20 ERA) ... Thompson has a 2.00 ERA in his last three starts, but has an 0-1 mark and two no-decisions in that stretch. In his last start on April 27 at Tampa, he gave up one run on five hits in working just 4.1 innings, his shortest stint of the season. Thompson struck out six against Tampa, marking his five straight game with five or more punch outs.
5/03 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (1-2, 8.71 ERA) ... Lopez was tagged for six runs on eight hits to the Cubs on April 28 in just 2.2 innings – his shortest outing of the season – and his second consecutive game giving up six runs. He has now allowed 17 runs in 10.2 innings in his last three starts for a 14.34 earned run average. This will be his fifth start at Joker Marchant Stadium this season compared to one road start.
DUNEDIN PROBABLE STARTERS
5/01 - RHP Taylor Cole (2-0, 2.73 ERA) ... Cole held Clearwater to one run on five hits over 6.0 innings on April 26, but did not get the decision. He struck out eight in the game and has punched out seven or more in each of his five starts this season. Cole has struck out 40 and walked seven over 29.2 innings.
5/02 - RHP Ben White (1-0, 3.57 ERA) ... White is looking for his first win since April 10. In his last outing, he gave up four runs on nine hits against Clearwater on April 27 and has been tagged for 17 hits over his last 13.0 innings. Unlike Cole, White is not a strikeout pitcher, mowing down just nine batters in 22.2 innings.
5/03 - RHP Jesse Hernandez (2-1, 3.27 ERA) ... Hernandez has won his last two starts. Against Tampa on April 28, he struck out four and held the Yankees to one run on three hits over 6.0 innings, marking the third time in four starts he has worked six frames. Both of wins have come on the road.
GRAND SLAMS ABOUND ... In the series opener against Daytona, James Robbins deposited a pitch over the left field with the bases loaded in the first inning to record Lakeland’s first grand slam since Jordan Lennerton hit one on July 2, 2011 at Clearwater. In the third inning, the Cubs’ Jeimer Candelario answered with his own grand slam.
HOME RUN DERBY ... Someone needs to check the baseballs when Lakeland is hitting as the Flying Tigers have now homered in four straight games. Lakeland has knocked seven out of the park in the last four contests and has now hit 14 home runs in the last 19 games after not going deep in the first eight games of the year.
TRIPLIN’ OUT ... Triples are a somewhat rare event in baseball, but Lakeland has had no problem with the three-base hit, cranking out six triples in a four-game stretch from April 26-29. Jeff McVaney has three of those triples, including a pair of three-baggers on April 28.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS ... Lakeland has had ten or more hits in each of the last five games and is now 58x175 during those five games for a .331 clip. The Flying Tigers have had six doubles, six triples and seven home runs in the last quintet of games.
LET IT RIP, LEON ... Leon Durham put together memorable back-to-back games against Dunedin going 4x4 on Tuesday with a homer and double for three runs batted in on April 29 and then followed with a 3x4 day with another double and two more runs driven in on April 30.
HOWDY HARRELL ... Connor Harrell brings six-game hit streak into the Dunedin series going 7x22 (.318) with six runs scored. He has hit three home runs in the last six games with 11 RBI.
MUCHO MACHADO ... Dixon Machado has carried the hot bat for Lakeland in the last seven games, getting at least one hit in each game. He is 15x31 (.484) with 10 runs scored and four more driven in to raise his batting average 109 points to .284 on the year.
MORE OF IT, McVANEY ... Jeff McVaney has hits in 10 of his last 12 games to bring up his average 52 points to .292 on the season. He is 17x51 (.333) during those dozen games with three triples and seven runs batted in. McVaney has scored in seven straight games, crossing the plate a total of nine times.
CURT POWER ... Curt Powell brings a seven-game hit streak into this series going 9x27 (.333) during that period.
HUPPERT CLIMBS THE LADDER ... With Lakeland’s 11-2 win over Daytona at home on Wednesday, Flying Tiger manager Dave Huppert moved into the top 20 for all-time wins by a minor league manager. Huppert, the winningest active minor league manager, now has a career record of 1,825-1,672 passing Bert Niehoff (1,824-1,713 record from 1922-1954 with 12 different teams), to move into the 20th spot among all-time minor league managers.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland hits the road for three games at Daytona on May 4-6. The series opens on Sunday at 5:35 pm and continues on Monday at 7:05 pm. The series finale is set for Tuesday at 10:35 as the Cubs host their Education Day.
THE BREVARD BOOM ... Brevard County dropped a bomb on Clearwater on Tuesday, drowning the Threshers 20-0 behind a 5x5 night by Tyrone Taylor, who singled twice, double, tripled and homered for the Manatee’s first-ever cycle. Brevard scored in each of the first six innings en route to a 16-0 lead after the sixth inning.
No comments:
Post a Comment