Tarpons Sink Dunedin Blue Jays 7-4: Rally Runs Into a Ninth-Inning Gut Punch

A comeback with a lousy ending

The Dunedin Blue Jays got close enough to make you lean toward the screen. Then the ninth inning gave everyone a reason to lean back and stare at the ceiling.

Tampa left Dunedin with a 7-4 win, spoiling a rally that had trimmed a 5-0 Tarpons lead to 5-4. The Jays supplied the suspense. Tampa took the result. Nobody likes that arrangement on this side of the bay.

Whether you were watching in Dunedin, following along in Clearwater or St. Pete, or checking the score out at the beaches, the frustration was the same: this game was there to be chased down. Dunedin just kept putting obstacles in its own path.

That is the version worth discussing at the tailgate, too. Not a team that rolled over. A team that fought back, then couldn't finish cleaning up its mess.

Tampa grabbed the wheel early

Wilberson De Pena wasted little time making himself unpopular with the home crowd. His two-run homer to left-center in the top of the first brought home Dax Kilby. It was De Pena's third of the season, and a fairly rude way to introduce the evening.

Blake Cyr followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Luis Puello, leaving Dunedin down 3-0 before its first turn at the plate. Getting comfortable would have to wait.

By the fifth, Brando Mayea's single scored Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II and put Tampa ahead 5-0. The Tarpons had room to breathe. Dunedin needed something louder than encouragement.

Jake Bennett provided it in the bottom of the inning, sending his third homer of the season to right field with Aldo Gaxiola aboard. At 5-2, the Jays finally had something to work with besides a shovel.

Then came Dean West in the seventh. His single to left scored Gaxiola and Giaconino Lasaracina, cutting Tampa's lead to 5-4. Suddenly, the early deficit wasn't the whole story. Dunedin had made this uncomfortable for the visitors.

West delivered; the ninth collected

West gets the nod as Dunedin's standout: 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, including the hit that turned a distant comeback into an immediate possibility. No need to dress that up. He delivered when the Jays needed him.

Edrwin Veras deserves his share of the conversation. He threw 3.1 shutout innings, allowed no hits and struck out 2. In a game spent trying to recover from an early hole, that was essential work. A rally needs somebody keeping the other side quiet.

But the top of the ninth supplied the moment Dunedin couldn't absorb. A fielding error by Bennett in left allowed De Pena and Gutierrez-Contreras II to score. A 5-4 game became 7-4, and that margin held.

Bennett had helped bring the Jays back with his bat. His error helped push the game away again. Baseball isn't especially interested in giving anybody a tidy evening.

The loss wasn't only about that play, either. Dunedin issued 8 walks and left 11 runners on base. That's a lot of help for an opponent and a lot of unfinished business for your own lineup.

Close isn't the same as finished

Equal hits, unequal damage. That's the short version of this local matchup. Tampa landed the early blows, Dunedin answered, and the Jays couldn't keep the margin within reach at the end.

There was good work here, particularly from West and Veras. There were also too many free passes and stranded runners to blame everything on one late mistake. The rally earned attention. The details cost the game.

Check the full box score or the Dunedin schedule before planning the next ballpark outing. The postgame debate can stretch from Dunedin to the beaches; the final score won't budge.

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