Quick Spring Recap: Jays lose to Rays

Rays 9 Blue Jays 5

Jays are now 6-3-2 on the spring.

Jays pitching had some control issues early and then we had some fielding issues late.

Anthony Kay started and had a very rough time of it. 4 walks, 1 hit, 4 earned, getting just 1 out. The Rays broadcasters suggested that he was being squeezed a bit. The camera angle made it impossible to get a good idea of the strike zone.

Travis Bergen got the last couple of outs of the first, both on strikeouts, but he gave up a two-run double and a walk first. I thought Gurriel took a crappy route on the double, but it was a hard hit ball.

• Brian Moran: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 earned, 2 k.
• Jacob Waguespack: 2 innings 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 k. Our best pitcher of the day.
• Patrick Murphy: His first inning went very well, a ground out and 2 strikeouts, hitting 98 on the radar. The second inning wasn’t so good. He gave up a single then got a strikeout on a very nice change. Then things went bad. An infield single to Andy Burns gave the Rays two base runners (Burns made a nice play, I thought he had the out, but no challenges in spring). That was followed by a double play ground ball, but Kevin Smith couldn’t catch Nash Knight’s flip to second base. Smith really should have made the play. The broadcasters suggested he was in too much of a hurry to try to make the double play. Maybe, but you have to make that. A walk followed (again the broadcasters suggested he was squeezed, a pitch they thought was strike 3 was called ball 3), then a ground ball single and a line single. In total, 4 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 4 runs, 3 earned (if the double play was turned it would have been a scoreless inning). The line score doesn’t look good, but he pitched well.
• Kirby Snead got the last two outs of the 6th, getting a strikeouts.
• Jordan Romano: 1 inning, 1 k.

On the hitting side:

• Jonathan Davis: 0 for 2, walk, 2 k. His first game action of the spring. There might be a job available if he has a good spring.
• Joe Panik: 0 for 2, walk. Hitting .333.
• Bo Bichette: 2 for 2, 3 RBI, triple, walk and a steal. Very good day for Bo. The broadcasters called his hair ‘lettuce’, which I thought was weird. Hitting .222.
• Travis Shaw: 0 for 3, 2 k. Hitting .071.
• Lourdes Gurriel: 2 for 2, double. .200.
• Rowdy Tellez: 0 for 3, 2 k. .278. Also missed a popup, though the wind pushed it a long way. It wasn’t ruled an error. It wasn’t a good day for Rowdy, didn’t look good at the plate. Did make a nice defensive play.
• Caleb Joseph: 0 for 3, 2 k. .167.
• Derek Fisher: 0 for 3. .235.
• Anthony Alford: 1 for 2, with a steal. .188.
• Logan Warmoth: 0 for 2, 2 k.
• Nash Knight: 0 for 1, k.
• Kevin Smith: 0 for 1 and the costly error.
• Andy Burns: 0 for 1.
• Joe Palacios: 0 for 2, k.
• Patrick Kivlehan: 1 for 1, home run. Crushed it to dead center, into the kiki bar.
• Riley Adams: 1 for 1, double.
• Forrest Wall: 0 for 2, k. Broadcaster made a ‘run Forrest run’ joke.