Dunedin Blue Jays Explode Late, Drop Cardinals 7-1 on Home Run Power

A quiet night, until the Blue Jays found the volume

For a while in Dunedin, this one had the urgency of a beach chair. Then the Blue Jays folded it up and started swinging.

Dunedin beat the Palm Beach Cardinals 7-1, turning an early deficit into a comfortable home win with back-to-back homers in the fourth and a five-run sixth. The long balls grabbed the lead. The next rally made sure nobody had to spend the finish negotiating with their fingernails.

For Pinellas fans watching in St Pete, Clearwater or out on the beaches, this was a reminder to leave the game on. For the Dunedin crowd making baseball the main event after a little pregame tailgate conversation, patience paid better than an early exit.

Palm Beach supplied the opening interruption. Travis Honeyman hit a solo homer over the left-field wall in the top of the first, putting the Cardinals ahead 1-0. Not exactly the welcome the home crowd had ordered.

But an early lead is not a reservation. Dunedin eventually took the table.

Two swings changed the evening

Owen Carapellotti got the response started in the fourth, sending his sixth homer to right-center to tie the game. Aldo Gaxiola immediately followed with his 15th, a solo shot to left-center that put the Blue Jays up 2-1.

Back-to-back homers: a wonderfully efficient way to end a discussion about a quiet offense.

Those swings were the hinge of the game. Dunedin went from chasing Palm Beach to making the Cardinals chase, and the Blue Jays never surrendered that lead. No elaborate comeback machinery required. Just consecutive baseballs headed somewhere the outfielders could admire them.

Gaxiola was more than the guy who delivered the go-ahead blast. He finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, then helped turn the sixth inning into the part Palm Beach would rather skip on the replay.

His single to center scored Juan Sanchez and moved Carapellotti to third. Brayden Martin followed with a grounder to left that brought home Carapellotti and Gaxiola, while Ryan Cooney advanced to third.

Then Raimundo De Los Santos doubled to right, scoring Cooney and Martin. Five runs in the inning. A 7-1 lead. The Cardinals had arrived at the uncomfortable portion of the evening.

The fourth supplied the power. The sixth supplied the pile-on, with Dunedin stringing together scoring hits instead of waiting for another ball to clear a fence.

Plenty of punch, no wasted motion

Jack Nedrow gave Dunedin 5.1 innings of two-hit work with six strikeouts. That kept the pitching side of the bargain while the offense found its opening. The staff finished with 10 strikeouts overall, giving Palm Beach problems beyond the scoreboard.

And that scoreboard tells the useful story here: seven runs on seven hits. The Blue Jays didn't need an endless parade of baserunners. They needed their damage to arrive together, and it did.

No need to turn a home win into a sweeping declaration. Back-to-back homers, a decisive rally and pitching that held Palm Beach to one run are plenty to bring to the next bar-stool argument.

Dunedin continues its homestand. Check the team schedule for upcoming games, or revisit the damage in the full game log.

Our Tampa Bay sports coverage is presented by the Bud Light Sports Zone.