Kyle Yates Continues Outstanding Pitching

Kyle Yates continued his dominance over the Florida State League on Tuesday evening as the Dunedin Blue Jays defeated the Sarasota Reds 4-2 and remained 1.5 games ahead for the second half playoff spot.

Dunedin fell behind in the first in 2-0, due to a missed catch error on Scott Dragicevich on a stolen base attempt. The inability to record the out, allowed two runs to score on back-to-back doubles, both unearned.

Dunedin got a run back in the second inning, and tied it in the third when David Smith, who doubled in the inning, came around to score on a Joey Reiman single. Dunedin took the lead in the sixth inning when Joey Reiman, who led the inning off with a single, and moved to second on a Michael Snyder single, went to third and then scored on consecutive wild pitched. The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the seven inning, when Joey Reiman grounded into a force out at second base, with the bases loaded, allowing a run to score.

Yates went 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits, no earned runs, issuing two walks and striking out ten batters. The 22-year-old picked up his 11th victory overall this season, and 7th for Dunedin as he struck out ten batters for the second time in five starts. Yates has allowed one run or less in five consecutive starts and six times over his last seven starts. In 13 starts in the Florida State League he has allowed one run or less nine times, and two runs or less eleven times. He has a 1.94 ERA in 74.1 innings with Dunedin, and over his last 12 starts, Yates has a 1.58 ERA for Dunedin. The right-hander has recorded 41 strikeouts over his last 33.1 innings, and is holding opponents to a .188 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Joey Reiman went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored in the victory, while David Smith and Carlo Cota each went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Smith is hitting .367 over his last 27 games played with 19 runs scored, 6 home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Dunedin is 37-28 in the second half of the season, with Fort Myers 35-29, 1.5 games behind Dunedin. Lakeland is in first place in the West division of the Florida State League, however, they already have won the first half crown.