The Jays are now on a two-game win streak.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Jays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-3 in Spring Training action to move their record to .500, or 9-9. It seems like the team is clicking, and Tuesday’s roster was basically the lineup we’ll see in the regular season.
Let’s take a look at things worth mentioning.
Things worth mentioning…
Chris Bassitt had a tremendous start for the Jays on Tuesday, as he finished with a line of 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 HR. You know when a pitcher goes over five innings in Spring Training that it’s almost time for the regular season to begin.
Bassitt threw everything but the kitchen sink (he did throw a sinker a lot), as Baseball Savant had him throwing eight different pitches, with the sinker being used nearly half the time. As for the velocity of the pitch, it averaged 90.7 mph, which is 1.2 mph slower than his yearly average from a season ago.
Justin Turner hit his first home run in a Blue Jays uniform to give the team a 3-0 lead. Despite being nearly 40, Turner hit 23 home runs in 626 plate appearances last season for the Boston Red Sox, four shy of tying his career-high of 27 (he’s hit that mark three times). Hopefully, this season he can break his career-high.
Eduardo Escobar had a really rough start to Spring Training, but he’s really come on recently, as he hit his first home run of the spring on Tuesday. Over his last five games, he has three hits of the extra base variety, and has jumped his batting average from .000 to .103… still not great, but he’s been better as of late.
Hagen Danner continues to look like a reliever who could pitch for the Jays at some point in 2023. In his outing on Tuesday, he finished with a line of 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, and featured a nasty slider with a mid-to-high 90s fastball, and a big looping curveball. The 25-year-old made his debut last season with the Jays, but was pulled mid-inning due to an injury.
Trevor Richards continued to do Trevor Richards things, as he finished with a line of 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. He strikes out a ton of batters, as he’s sixth in the league in K% with 200 innings pitched since the start of the 2021 season, but he does suffer from inconsistency. Still, he’s probably going to make the Jays roster, and for good reason.
The Blue Jays had 12 hits, but no player had a multi-hit game, believe it or not. Bo Bichette, Ernie Clement, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Justin Turner, Rafael Lantigua, Daulton Varsho, Danny Jansen, Phil Clarke, Glenn Santiago, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Eduardo Escoard, and Cavan Biggio all had a hit in Tuesday’s game.
It won’t be too long before the Blue Jays return to action, as they’ll face off against the Minnesota Twins at 1:05 PM ET on Wednesday. Bowden Francis is expected to start that game, while he’ll be opposed by Bailey Ober. Sadly, it appears the game will not be televised.
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