After a 45 minute rain delay, the Blue Jays and Golden Marlins played a very competitive game on Sunday, at New Scotland Town Park.
Jim Ansel got the start for the Marlins, and Dave Foreman took the ball for the Jays. Both pitchers shut out their opponents for the first two innings.
The Golden Marlins scored first, in the top of the 3rd, on a 2-out RBI single by Tim Brown. The Blue Jays answered back with 2 , in the bottom of the inning, on singles by Bob Yakatan, Mike Aiello, and Lex Herlett, to take a 2-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Marlins seized a 4-2 lead, in the top of the 4th. Randy Craft had the big hit with a sinking line drive single to right that the Blue Jays right fielder tried to make a sliding catch on, only to have it skip under him and roll all of the way to the right field wall and score two runs. Mike Clary drove in the third run of the inning on a RBI ground out.
Jim Ansel settled in and shut down the Jays in the bottom of the fourth.
The Marlins would use a two out 2-RBI double off the left field wall, in the top of the 5th inning, by Mike Girard, to push the lead to 6-2. Ansel again followed up the Marlins rally with a scoreless bottom half of the inning.
Mike Clary would close out the scoring for the Marlins, in the top of the 6th, with his second RBI of the game, this time on a solid single, scoring Tim Brown, who had just stolen his second base of the game.
The final run of the game came in the bottom of the 6th inning, on a single and stolen base by Lex Herlett, who moved to third on the errant throw from the Marlins catcher, and scored on a RBI ground out by Paul Post.
Mother Nature came on to close out the game, with her second and final appearance of the game, washing out the final frame, making the final score 7-3.
Tom Maney, Mike Girard, Ron Lochner, Phil Gadomski, Randy Craft, and Mike Clary all had 2-hit games for the Golden Marlins. Lex Herlett led the way for the Blue Jays, with 3 singles.
The Golden Marlins finish the first half of their regular season schedule at a perfect 8-0, while the Blue Jays dropped to 4-4 with the loss. The two teams meet again in two weeks.