THE SERIES ... In a rare four-game series against a North Division team, Lakeland will play a quartet of contests at Dunedin Aug. 18-21 with all games set for a 6:30 pm first pitch. All games can be heard on the Blue Jays website. The Blue Jays has won two straight in the series and four of the last six contests and now holds an 8-6 advantage in the season series. Chad Wright and Connor Harrell each have 16 hits in the series while Jeff McVaney has 15 hits, including four of Lakeland’s nine homers in the series. For Dunedin, Gustavo Pierre leads with 15 hits and Emilio Guerrero has 13 base knocks. The Blue Jays have outscored the Flying Tigers 70-56 in the 14 games.
THE FLYING TIGERS (17-38, 6th, 14.5 GB; 59-63 overall) ... Lakeland was swept in three games over the weekend by Clearwater which outscored the Flying Tigers 22-7. The Threshers also pounded Flying Tigers pitchers for 31 hits in the trio of contests. Lakeland has now lost four straight, six of its last seven, and is 3-10 since Aug. 4. James Robbins is tied for fourth in the Florida State League with 14 home runs while Jeff McVaney is fifth with 65 runs batted in.
THE BLUE JAYS (27-29, 4th, 5.0 GB; 73-52 overall) ... Dunedin has lost its last two games, dropping games of 5-1 and 3-2 to Brevard County over the weekend. With a .584 overall winning percentage, the Blue Jays, winners of the first half and headed for the FSL playoffs, bring the league’s second best record into this series. Only Fort Myers, with a 74-52 mark and a .587 winning percentage, has a better record than Dunedin. Taylor Cole leads all of minor league baseball with 162 strikeouts (including a FSL-best 152 at Dunedin) and has the fourth best ERA in the league at 2.87 and while closer Arik Sikula leads all of minor league baseball with 30 saves. Dwight Smith, Jr. is tied for the league-lead with 76 runs scored and eight triples and is fifth in the FSL with 123 hits. He also is fifth and a .442 slugging percentage while being tied for third with 42 extra base hits and 191 total bases.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS:
8/18 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (7-9, 2.98 ERA) ... De La Rosa, which has the FSL’s fifth best ERA and third best opponents average at .222, took the loss in his last start on Aug. 13 at Tampa allowing a season-high five earned runs on six hits in just 3.0 innings. He also struck out three and walked three in that start. In his 10 starts prior to the Tampa game, he had allowed a total of 13 earned runs in 58.1 innings for a 2.01 ERA. De La Rosa is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts versus Dunedin this season and has seven strikeouts and six walks in 16 innings against Dunedin.
8/19 - RHP Logan Ehlers (3-2, 4.53 ERA) ... This is Ehlers’ third start of the season. In his last start on Aug. 14 in game two of a doubleheader against Tampa, he gave up five runs—four earned—on five hits in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Both of Ehlers’ two losses have come as a starter. As a reliever, he was 3-0 with a 4.64 ERA in 11 appearances. Ehlers is 0-0 with a 8.10 ERA in four previous appearances against the Blue Jays. He has four strikeouts and six walks in 11.0 innings versus Dunedin.
8/20 - RHP Tommy Collier (3-2, 4.15 ERA) ... Collier is coming off 6.1 scoreless innings in a win against Tampa in game one of a doubleheader on Aug. 14. Collier has not allowed a run in his last 12.1 innings over two starts with 12 strikeouts and five walks with eight hits allowed. He is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in three previous road starts. Collier has not faced Dunedin this season.
8/21 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (5-11, 5.05 ERA) ... Lopez, who is fourth in the FSL with 24 games started, dropped his last start on Aug. 16 at Clearwater, giving up six runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings. He has lost his last four decisions and is 1-7 with a 6.22 ERA since June 28 and has allowed three or more runs in each of his last seven starts. Lopez is 1-5 with a 5.00 ERA in 12 previous road starts. He is 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA in three previous starts against Dunedin with eight walks and six strikeouts in 14.0 innings.
SNAPPED ... Connor Harrell went 0x2 with two walks on Sunday at Clearwater to see his 14-game hit streak come to a close. During the streak, he was 17x48 for a .354 average with five runs scored and seven runs batted in. He also had one double, one triple and three home runs during the streak which began on Aug. 1. Harrell is the third Flying Tiger to put together a streak of 14 or more games this season, joining Harold Castro (18 games) and Chad Wright (14 games).
HOMERING ALONG ... The Flying Tigers had homered in five straight games before going “homer-less” on Sunday and now have hit a round-tripper in 11 of the last 14 games. Tyler Gibson hit his first homer as a Flying Tiger on Aug. 16 at Clearwater while Jared Reaves hit his second homer of the season in the same game. For Gibson, it was his first home run since July 21, 2013 when he went deep as a member of the Connecticut Tigers in the New York-Penn League.
RETURN OF THE WHIFF ... In 25 games from July 14-Aug. 7, Lakeland batters had struck out 10 times or more in just two games. In the last nine games, the team has double-digits in strikeouts six times.
PICKED OFF ... Lakeland pitchers have picked off 45 batters this season, including 40 batters off first base. Edgar De La Rosa leads the way with 10 runners picked off, including a pair of runners at second base. Alex Burgos has seven pick-offs at first base. Catchers Austin Green and Drew Longley (now at AA Erie) have combined to nail nine men on base with Longley getting the tri-fecta with picking runners off first, second and third base.
32nd ARM ... Sunday morning, Lakeland added righthanded pitcher Micah Kellogg from the GCL Tigers. A few hours later, he took the hill against Clearwater, becoming the 32nd pitcher to play for Lakeland this season, tying the franchise record set in 2010. Kellogg, who is from Athens, Greece, was signed by Detroit as a non-drafted free agent in 2012 out of Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla. and was 3-2 with a 2.04 ERA for the GCL Tigers last season. This year, he was 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in nine appearances in the Gulf Coast League.
CAN WE SKIP THE THIRD? ... Lakeland has been outscored by 24 runs, 83-59, in the third inning this season, by far the largest discrepancy of any inning. The Flying Tigers enjoy the best advantage in the seventh inning, outscoring opponents 63-52 in that frame.
BROOM TIME ... When Lakeland was swept by Clearwater over the weekend, it marked the fifth time the Flying Tigers have dropped all three games of a series this season. Lakeland has four series sweeps this season, including a four-game sweep of Jupiter on May 27-30.
ON THIS DATE ... On Aug. 18, 2012, Wade Gaynor hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 13th to lift the Flying Tigers to a 6-5 win over Dunedin. Lakeland would go on to win the Florida State League Championship that season. James Robbins and Dean Green also homered in that game.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland will continue on the road with four games at Dunedin Aug. 18-21. The next home game for the Flying Tigers comes Friday, Aug. 22 when they host Daytona in a 5 pm doubleheader. The twin bill was made necessary when the Aug. 11 at Daytona was rained out.
MINOR FINANCIALS ... According to an article on The Arizona Republic website, most minor league baseball players earn only between $3,000 and $7,500 for a five-month season. In the major leagues, it’s a little better payscale with the minimum salary set at $500,000. Umpires in the Florida State League make between $2,000-$2,400 per month while umpires in the Gulf Coast League take home between $1,900 and $2,100 per month.
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