Well, thankfully that game wasn’t televised.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Blue Jays faced off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, falling 6-5 to one of the league’s worst teams. The Jays were up 5-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, before a three-run inning sealed their fate and brought their record to 3-8.
Things worth mentioning…
José Berríos started the game for the Jays, finishing with a line of 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. He’s yet to give up an earned run in his two starts or five innings pitched.
As for his stuff, his sinker averaged 93.9 mph and maxed out at 95.3. In fact, his two-seam fastball velocity is already 0.1 mph faster than his velocity last season. The slurve had the highest whiff % at 50, but for all 27 swings he had during the afternoon, nine were of the whiff variety of a 33% whiff%.
Mitch White is stretching out just like Berríos, and he finished with a line of 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Although not the best outing, his fastball averaged 96.4 mph (2.5 mph more than last season’s average) and maxed out at 98 mph. It also generated three whiffs on nine total swings.
Nathan Lukes had the best game for any position player, going 2-2 with two doubles and an RBI. It’ll be interesting to see if he is awarded more of an opportunity this season, as he slashed .366/.423/.530 with five homers in 222 plate appearances with Triple-A Buffalo last season.
Santiago Espinal scored two of Toronto’s five runs, but officially went 0-0 on the day. Why? Well, Espinal walked three times. He’s been far too over-hated in recent times and I’d be expecting a bounce back season in 2024 if he doesn’t get optioned to start the season.
Eduardo Escobar went 0-3 and is slashing .000/.063/.000 with a single walk in 16 plate appearances. He’s two seasons removed from hitting 20 home runs and could be good depth to have in Triple-A, but I highly doubt he’ll impact the Jays roster in 2024.
The Jays had eight hits in total, Lukes had two, Cam Eden, Bo Bichette, Justin Turner, Addison Barger, Will Robertson, and Miguel Hiraldo had the other six hits. Daulton Varsho, Bichette, Robertson, Hiraldo, and Lukes had the five RBIs.
There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that the Jays will finally get their first off-day of Spring Training… It can also be seen as good news with how this Spring Training is going. They’ll return to action on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers at 6:05 PM ET, with fan favourite Bowden Francis getting the start.
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