• Blue Jays blow out Pirates for first spring win
• Projected triple-A starters leave good impression
• Toronto’s youngsters beat up on big-leaguers
BRADENTON, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays finally got off the spring-time schneid, but they had to go all the way to Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Park to do it, with a rousing 12-0 obliteration of a Pittsburgh Pirates team that had beaten them 2-1 the day before.
Eight Jays’ pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout, while the bats pounded out 16 hits, including four home runs, against nine Pirate hurlers — eight of whom pitched in the majors last year and at least six of whom will be playing major roles on the big-league club this season.
Here are three things that stood out about the big Jays win:
FLOATING AROUND THE BASES
Josh Palacios was the Blue Jays’ fourth-round pick last June out of Auburn University, and the 21 year-old played in 50 games in his first season as a pro, starting with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays (Rookie), continuing through short-season Vancouver and finishing up in low-A Lansing. He had a terrific year, hitting .330/.397/.426, but didn’t go deep even once.
Called up from the minor-league complex to be a backup in Bradenton, Palacios took over for Anthony Alford in right field in the fifth inning. In the sixth, he reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on Dwight Smith Jr.’s two-run single, and after making a nice diving catch on a sinking liner by Jackson Williams in the bottom of the sixth, he came to bat in the seventh with a runner on and two out against Antonio Bastardo.
Left-on-left, Palacios drove a ball to deep left-centre field and out it went for his first home run as a professional baseball player.
DEPTH ON DISPLAY
As the Blue Jays hold back their regular starting pitchers (save Marcus Stroman) early in the spring, there are a lot of opportunities for pitchers who are destined to start the season in the minors to leave a good impression with the big-league coaching staff.
Tuesday against the Pirates, who started five big-leaguers (plus top prospect Austin Meadows), Lucas Harrell, Casey Lawrence and Jarrett Grube — all of whom could be starting at triple-A Buffalo this year — looked awfully good.
Harrell, who has major-league time with the Astros, White Sox, Braves and Rangers over parts of six seasons, threw two no-hit innings, walking one and hitting another, while striking out three. He was followed by Lawrence, coming off two innings of one-hitter in the Jays’ spring opener. The 29-year-old pitched a perfect third, getting two ground balls and a strikeout.
Grube, a 35 year-old journeyman who has pitched in one major-league game in 13 seasons as a pro, worked a perfect bottom of the eighth.
The Blue Jays had the best starting rotation in the American League last season, by nearly half a run, but they don’t have much depth. If it’s tested through the season, they might have to rely on guys like Grube, Harrell and Lawrence (as well as T.J. House and Brett Oberholtzer) to hold down the fort.
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BEATING UP ON BIG-LEAGUERS
The Pirates threw almost their entire major-league bullpen at the Blue Jays in getting lambasted, with eight of Toronto’s dozen runs coming against very strong relievers in Bastardo, Juan Nicasio and Tony Watson.
Watson, who took over as the Bucs’ closer when Mark Melancon was traded at the deadline last season and is the leading candidate to have that job this year, got two quick outs in the third inning before the roof fell in.
Jon Berti got it started with a hard-hit double to left, which was followed by an infield single from Ezequiel Carrera to put runners on the corners. Gregorio Petit then ripped a two-run double into the left-field corner and Kendrys Morales smacked a hard line single to left-centre to score Petit. After Watson walked Rowdy Tellez, he was bailed out by Brett McKinney, who struck out Reese McGuire to end the inning. That was the only out in the game recorded by a Pirates pitcher who wasn’t in the major leagues last season.
After Daniel Hudson and Felipe Rivero — two relievers being counted on for late-inning high-leverage work — each tossed a shutout frame, the Jays got to Nicasio in the sixth.
The righty, who struck out 75 in 55 2/3 relief innings last season, gave up a leadoff single to McGuire, then watched as Jason Rogers threw Palacios’ ground ball into the outfield. Right fielder Michael Suchy picked it up and threw it away himself trying to get McGuire at third, leaving Blue Jays at second and third with nobody out. Two batters later, Smith Jr. ripped a two-run single to left.
The Jays’ kids were all in by the time Bastardo got into the game in the seventh to give up singles to Richard Urena and Mike Ohlman ahead of the Palacios blast.
In the ninth, it was A.J. Schugel on the mound for the home side, a righty who posted a 1.038 WHIP in 52 innings out of the Pirates’ bullpen last year. He was taken to the woodshed by the baby Jays, as Ohlman, Jonathan Diaz and Matt Dean all hit long, loud home runs.
These weren’t minor leaguers and nervous kids to whom the Blue Jays laid waste. They were all legitimate, very good major-league arms.
The Blue Jays will look to double their spring victory total when they take on the Detroit Tigers back in Dunedin on Wednesday afternoon to open up the month of March. Ryan Borucki, a 22 year-old lefty just added to the Jays’ 40-man roster this winter after recovering from 2015 Tommy John surgery, will get the start against 2016 AL rookie of the year Michael Fulmer. Ben Nicholson-Smith and I will have the call on the web.
