What You Need To Know
- Drew Hutchison looked great on his road back from Tommy John surgery striking out four batters. He blew through the first inning throwing exclusively low-90's fastballs, showing no nerves or mechanical issues. In the second inning he brought in his slider as well at 87MPH a few times, striking out J.J. Hardy with one. He also threw a wicked changeup to Matt Wieters, showing that he still has the feel for all three of his pitches. The fastball command was solid throughout the two innings and was a great statement appearance in his attempt to grab the last starting rotation spot.
- Chris Getz staked his claim for a legitimate look at the second base position this season with a nice defensive play in the first inning plus an easy triple in the second, a single in the fifth and a RBI double in the sixth as well as beating out a double play in the eighth. On the downside he got caught stealing on a bad call and dropped a very tough pop-up in the fourth inning, but I wouldn't hold either of those against him.
- *I would hold the error Chris Getz made in the eighth inning against him though seeing as it pretty well cost the Blue Jays the game.
- Jared Goedert had a nice at-bat following Getz's triple, driving him in with a RBI single.
- Marcus Stroman came in throwing heat alongside some nice looking sliders and changeups, although the radar gun on the TV broadcast went a little wild recording most of his pitches at 61 MPH. He surrendered a single and walk in the third inning, but the strike zone did get a little tight when he was throwing. He then gave up a double to Chris Davis on a hanging slider that drove in the two runners. He got out of the inning with a much better looking slider to Adam Jones. The Duke graduate came back out for the fourth flashing some nice changeups, but the command wasn't there for a lot of his pitches, allowing back-to-back singles before getting out of the inning by striking out the side.
- Ricky Romero came in and *GASP* couldn't throw strikes. The delivery was all sorts of awkward, but he laboured through the inning safely mainly because Baltimore hitters were swinging at pitches in the other batter's box.
- Anthony Gose had a RBI single in the sixth inning and then proceeded to steal second and third before being driven in by Chris Getz.
- Dan Johnson smashed a three-run homer over the right field wall in the sixth inning.
- Deck McGuire didn't look so great in his planned two innings of work, getting hit around in the eighth inning before exiting the game with the bases juiced and just one out on the board (he went 1.1 innings). Jordan Walden came in and let all of McGuire's baserunners score and loaded the bases himself before a bases clearing triple made it 9-7 Baltimore. The seven-run eighth inning is what lost the Blue Jays this game.
- The Blue Jays big league hitters didn't look that great today, with the reserve guys/Chris Getz getting the majority of the hits.
All in all a positive game for the Blue Jays with some fringe players making a statement that they deserve a shot at the big league squad. Tomorrow sees the Blue Jays host the New York Yankees in Dunedin. Esmil Rogers, Todd Redmond, Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup, Jeremy Jeffress, and Chad Jenkins are expected to take the mound.