Saunders Rehab in Clearwater

By on April 9, 2015

 

Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Michael Saunders (left knee) takes batting practice Thursday afternoon in preparation for his first rehab game with Class-A Dunedin against Clearwater in Clearwater.  Saunders tore his left meniscus on February 25th when he stepped on a sprinkler head shagging balls at the team's Mattick Complex Field One.  He is scheduled to DH on Thursday and play in the field on Friday when the same two teams play in Dunedin. (EDDIE MICHELS PHOTO)

Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Michael Saunders (left knee) takes batting practice Thursday afternoon in preparation for his first rehab game with Class-A Dunedin against Clearwater in Clearwater. Saunders tore his left meniscus on February 25th when he stepped on a sprinkler head shagging balls at the team’s Mattick Complex Field One. He is scheduled to DH on Thursday and play in the field on Friday when the same two teams play in Dunedin. (EDDIE MICHELS PHOTO)

Clearwater, Fla.– Appearing in his first game as a member of the Blue Jays, Michael Saunders started at DH for the Dunedin Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Saunders appears to be recovering well from a left meniscus tear suffered when he stepped on a sprinkler head at the Blue Jays Mattick Complex in Dunedin on February 25, 2015.

He made four plate appearances, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The scariest and yet most exciting part of his night was after he walked in the fourth inning. With nobody out and runners on first and second, Blue Jays first baseman Matthew Dean hit a solid grounder to third. Clearwater Threshers third baseman Mitchell Walding stepped on the bag and proceeded to start what many baseball fans long to see…a Triple Play.

That was the exciting part.

The scary part was watching Michael Saunders slide into second trying to break up the attempt. He did not appear to aggravate the knee, however, he did not look great in his next at-bat, leading to the strikeout.

In his final plate appearance, leading off the ninth inning, Saunders grounded out to third. He had no trouble getting down the line as it was a bang-bang play at first.

The plan with Saunders is to have him play the outfield tomorrow for Dunedin. That game will be played at the Blue Jays home, Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

Dunedin
(1-0)
0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 5 7 2
Clearwater
(0-1)
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 7 0

 

Dunedin Blue Jays
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Roemon Fields CF 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .250
Dawel Lugo SS 4 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 .500
Michael Saunders DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000
Matt Dean 1B 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 .333
Mitch Nay 3B 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 .250
David Harris LF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Derrick Loveless RF 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333
Jorge Saez C 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Christian Lopes 2B 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
Totals 31 5 7 0 0 3 5 2 2 .226
BATTING
HR: Nay (1, 5th inning off Imhof, 0 on, 0 out), Lugo, D (1, 6th inning off Leiter, 1 on, 1 out), Dean (1, 9th inning off Ramos, 0 on, 1 out).
TB: Nay 4; Dean 4; Lopes, C; Loveless; Lugo, D 5; Fields.
RBI: Fields (1), Nay (1), Lugo, D 2 (2), Dean (1).
2-out RBI: Fields.
GITP: Dean.
Team RISP: 2-for-4.
Team LOB: 1.

BASERUNNING
SB: Loveless (1, 2nd base off Imhof/Knapp).
PO: Fields (1st base by Imhof).

FIELDING
E: Dean (1, missed catch), Lopes, C (1, fielding).

Clearwater Threshers
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Drew Stankiewicz 2B 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .333
Willians Astudillo DH 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Domonic Brown RF 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000
    Andrew Pullin LF 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .500
Andrew Knapp C 4 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 .750
Dylan Cozens LF-RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Zach Green 1B 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .250
Aaron Brown CF 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .250
Mitch Walding 3B 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Devin Lohman SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 35 2 7 3 0 0 1 1 8 .200
BATTING
2B: Pullin (1, Labourt), Knapp (1, Dragmire), Brown (1, Browning).
TB: Green, Z; Stankiewicz; Knapp 4; Brown 2; Pullin 2.
RBI: Knapp (1).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cozens 2; Astudillo; Lohman.
Team RISP: 1-for-8.
Team LOB: 7.

FIELDING
Triple Play: (Walding-Stankiewicz-Green, Z).
Pickoffs: Imhof (Fields at 1st base).

Dunedin Blue Jays
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Jairo Labourt (W, 1-0) 5.1 5 2 1 1 3 0 1.69
Luis Santos (H, 1) 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00
Chad Girodo (H, 1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00
Brady Dragmire (H, 1) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Wil Browning (S, 1) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Totals 9.0 7 2 1 1 8 0 1.00
Clearwater Threshers
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Matt Imhof (L, 0-1) 5.0 4 2 2 1 0 1 3.60
Mark Leiter 2.0 2 2 2 1 2 1 9.00
Edubray Ramos 2.0 1 1 1 0 0 1 4.50
Totals 9.0 7 5 5 2 2 3 5.00
Game Scores: Labourt 54, Imhof 50.
WP: Labourt, Imhof.
Groundouts-flyouts: Labourt 7-7, Santos, L 0-0, Girodo 1-0, Dragmire 1-2, Browning 1-0, Imhof 7-6, Leiter 2-2, Ramos 4-2.
Batters faced: Labourt 23, Santos, L 2, Girodo 3, Dragmire 4, Browning 4, Imhof 17, Leiter 9, Ramos 7.
Inherited runners-scored: Santos, L 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Ryan Benson. 1B: Kirk Struble.
Weather: 82 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 8 mph, Out to RF.
T: 2:22.
Att: 3,971.
Venue: Bright House Field.
Categories: Baseball, Featured, Sports
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