The spring Blue Jays looked like the Blue Jays of summer 2015 as they bashed early and often to a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros, improving their record to 11-4.
Aaron Sanchez received the start for the Jays and was as dominant as he's been this spring. He started the first inning with a one-two-three inning before allowing a single in the second inning. That didn't deter him as he had to face only one more than the minimum through three innings.
Seeing this, Jose Bautista sent a line-drive to left-field for a three-run home run to make it 3-0 for the men in Blue.
After allowing a double to Marwin Gonzalez (just the Astros second hit of the day), Sanchez threw a wild pitch allowing Gonzalez to move to third and later scored.
The Jays managed to score two more runs in the home half, one virtue to Pillar's second single on the afternoon. Sanchez struck out the first two hitters to start the 5th inning, but came up short of finishing the inning after walking Andrew Aplin. His final line represented another strong outing in 4.2 innings pitched, five strikeouts, two walks and one earned run. His ERA on the spring drops to 1.98.
Troy Tulowitzki added a home run of his own in the 5th inning, widening the gap to 5-0.
In relief, Steve Delabar, Randy Choate and Drew Storen teamed up for three innings of scoreless relief before Brett Cecil allowed a run in the 8th inning. Chad Girodo came in during the 9th for a single shutout inning to complete the victory.
Kevin Pillar--2/3, .233
Josh Donaldson--0/2, .333
Jose Bautista--1/3, .200
Troy Tulowitzki--1/3, .250
Chris Colabello--0/3, .310
Justin Smoak--2/2, .346
Ezequiel Carrera--1/2, .118
Darwin Barney--0/3, .261
A.J Jiminez--1/2, .429