Quick Recap: Blue Jays Fooled By Pirates

Pirates 3 Blue Jays 1

he Blue Jays had their 6th loss today, in front of a national television audience no less. That should hopefully temper the expectations of casual fans. So just to review, Spring Training wins "don't matter" and losses "manage expectations."

Brandon Morrow started strong, throwing four scoreless innings. I didn't see how his pitches looked, but only giving up two singles is probably a good sign. Jeff Karstens, the Pirates' starter, was solid as well, only allowing a single run when Edwin Encarnacion--batting cleanup--singled in Kelly Johnson in the 4th. Casey Janssen, Darren Oliver, and Francisco Cordero followed up with four scoreless innings. The Pirates took the lead in the 8th on a two-run home run by Nate McLouth off of Andrew Carpenter (right when TFSML came onto the GameThread, I must note), then tacked on an insurance run in the 9th when Matt Hague went deep against Jim Hoey. The Blue Jays are now 23-6 (.793) in Grapefruit League games. The Pirates are now 9-18 (.333).

Final line: Pittsburgh 3 runs 8 hits 0 errors, Toronto 1 run 9 hits 1 error.

Pitchers:

Brandon Morrow: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K. Has given up only 1 earned run all spring.
Casey Janssen: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R. Has not given up a single earned run all spring.
Darren Oliver: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R.
Francisco Cordero: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R.
Andrew Carpenter: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 HR.
Jim Hoey: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 HR.

No one struck anyone out except for Morrow, but no one walked any Pirates either.

Batters:

Yunel Escobar: 0-4, .232
Kelly Johnson: 2-4, 1 K, .296
Jose Bautista: 1-4, .288
Edwin Encarnacion: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 K, .322. EE has been having a really good spring. I can't wait until he plays in real games... batting cleanup.
Adam Lind: 0-1, BB, .33. Farrell is just easing Lind back into the lineup.
Brett Lawrie: 1-3, .538
Eric Thames: 2-4, 1 K, .350. Also had a good game, making the bosses look smart for picking him to start in LF.
J.P. Arencibia: 1-2, .235. Staying dreamy.
Colby Rasmus: 0-3, 1 K, .173. Hasn't been a productive spring for him, but I still believe.

Notable substitutions:
Yan Gomes (pinch ran for Lind): 0-2, 1 K, .333. Is Gomesanity over?
Jeff Mathis (pinch hit for JPA): 0-2, 1 K, .158.
Luis Valbuena (pinch hit for Lawrie): 0-1, .175. Probably moving towards the end of his Blue Jays career.

Brett Cecil and a few starters will travel to Lakeland tomorrow to face the Tigers for their penultimate Spring Training game. Luis Perez, then a bunch of minor leaguers will follow Cecil's five innings. No radio tomorrow, and probably not a lot of press coverage either, as most of the reporters are heading back home to Toronto for a bit before heading down to Cleveland next week.