Dunedin Blue Jays Drop Seven in the Second, Power Past Cardinals 8-3

A delayed game, an express checkout

The Dunedin Blue Jays waited to play this one. They did not waste much time deciding it.

In a game originally postponed from August 29, Dunedin unloaded for seven runs in the second inning and beat the Palm Beach Cardinals 8-3. Aldo Gaxiola hit a grand slam. Jake Bennett added an inside-the-park home run. Same result on the scoreboard, wildly different amounts of running.

For Pinellas fans watching from St Pete, Clearwater or the beaches, this was the kind of game that punished a casual check-back-later approach. Leave a scoreless game alone for an inning and suddenly you’re wondering whether the scoreboard needs technical support.

For the home crowd in Dunedin, no troubleshooting was necessary. The Blue Jays had simply started hitting, and Palm Beach couldn’t find the off switch.

The second inning picked up the tab

Through an inning and a half, neither team had scored. Then Dunedin turned a quiet afternoon at the plate into a very expensive inning for Cardinals pitching.

Brayden Martin singled home Juan Sanchez to get it started. Raimundo De Los Santos drove in Enmanuel Bonilla, and Ryan Cooney brought Martin home to make it 3-0. Useful work, all of it. Before the big swing arrived, Dunedin had already built something worth protecting.

Then Gaxiola made protecting it considerably easier.

With the bases loaded, he sent a grand slam to left field, stretching the lead to 7-0. That was the separating swing: a manageable deficit for Palm Beach became a full renovation project.

Gaxiola finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and four RBI. There’s your player of the game without needing a committee meeting. Plenty of Blue Jays helped build the inning; Gaxiola knocked out the wall.

That’s also the beauty of following the local club. Whether your routine starts with a Dunedin tailgate or ends with watching baseball near the beaches, sometimes the best argument for paying attention is one swing nobody at the table wants to stop discussing.

Bennett took the scenic route

In the bottom of the third, Bennett hit a fly ball to center field and turned it into an inside-the-park home run, pushing Dunedin’s lead to 8-0.

Gaxiola’s homer cleared the bases. Bennett’s required him to cover all of them himself. Baseball offers different service packages.

Palm Beach finally answered in the fifth. Ryan Mitchell singled to center to score Trevor Haskins and break up the shutout. Dee Kennedy followed with a two-RBI single, bringing home Alexander Frias and Mitchell to cut Dunedin’s lead to 8-3.

A response? Absolutely. A comeback? Not this time.

The Cardinals got no closer. Dunedin’s pitching held Palm Beach to three hits for the game, while the Blue Jays collected 11. Jack Nedrow’s line was 4.2 innings, three hits, three earned runs and four strikeouts.

The seven-run second will get the conversation started, but keeping Palm Beach from turning that fifth-inning rally into anything bigger mattered, too. An early cushion is only useful if you don’t spend the rest of the game giving it back.

Big inning, clean finish

No need to dress this up as a grand declaration about the season. Dunedin hit, built a substantial lead and kept it. That’s a satisfying night’s work without attaching a motivational poster to it.

The Blue Jays continue their homestand. Check the official schedule before making your plans, or revisit the damage in the full game log.

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