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Blue Jays 13 Phillies 7
Jays finish the spring 16-9, which doesn’t suck.
This one looked to be a loss, until we scored 9 in the seventh inning.
T.J. Zeuch had a rough time of it. 3 innings, 9 hits, 5 earned, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. To be fair to TJ, 8 of the hits were singles, with 1 double. Most were ground balls that avoided the fielders, and most weren’t hit all that hard, ground ball pitchers are going to have days like that. But then strikeout guys are going to have days when a pitch gets hit out of the park. He topped out at 94, but, on average, didn’t seem to be throwing as hard as earlier in the spring. It might have been that he wasn’t going to go all out in the last start of the spring, just to be careful. He was told before the game that he was making the opening roster.
- Anthony Castro: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 earned, 1 home run. Looked good, other than Bryce Harper taking him deep.
- Julian Merryweather: Pitching in a downpour. 1 inning, 1 walk, 1 k.
- Jordan Romano: 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned, 2 strikeouts, 1 home run. Again didn’t seem to be lighting up the radar the same as earlier in the spring.
- Trent Thornton: 2 innings, 4 strikeouts.
- Kirby Snead: 1 inning, hit batter.
Batters:
I think some of the regulars came out of the same early because of the pouring rain.
- Marcus Semien: 1 for 2. .220.
- Cavan Biggio: 1 or 2, k. .268.
- Bo Bichette: 2 for 2. .313. Had a throwing error on a ball he should have ate. Ground ball to Vlad, Vlad made a nice throw to Bo at second for the lead out, but Bo threw back to the pitcher covering first and threw well wide. He wasn’t getting the out anyway.
- Teoscar Hernandez: 0 for 2, 2 k. .214.
- Vladimir Guerrero: 0 for 2. .421. Had a bit of a slump at the end of spring.
- Lourdes Gurriel: 1 for 2. .250. Missed a catch on a line drive just over his head. Still seems massively better going in on balls than going back.
- Rowdy Tellez: 1 for 2, home run. His first home run since early in the spring. .196.
- Randal Grichuk: 1 for 1. .231.
- Danny Jansen:0 for 2. .152.
The replacements:
- Otto Lopez: 3 for 3, walk. .400.
- Breyvic Valera: 1 for 2. walk. .162.
- Santiago Espinal: 2 for 3, home run, 5 RBI. .382.
- Josh Palacios: 0 for 2. .353.
- Cullen Large: 1 for 1 with a walk. .300.
- Forrest Wall: 0 for 3, 2 strikeouts. .323.
- Orelvis Martinez: 2 for 2, home run, double, 3 RBI. .364.
- Jonathan Davis: 1 for 3, strikeout. .308.
- Riley Adams: 1 for 3.
We’ve come to the end of fake baseball. Thursday 1:00 Eastern the season opens against the Yankees.
As mentioned above, Zeuch has made the opening day roster:
T.J. Zeuch tells media he made the #BlueJays roster. Charlie Montoyo informed him of the decision before today's start. Zeuch said he hasn't yet been briefed on what role he will play just, though he was the front runner to fill in for Robbie Ray in the rotation.
— Laura Armstrong (@lauraarmy) March 29, 2021
And, in case you missed it, try not to cry too hard for him:
BREAKING: The Rangers informed Rougned Odor he will not make the team. His time with the Rangers is over. https://t.co/VMIAJ3sSyN
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 29, 2021
And, no surprise, the Vancouver Canadians won’t be playing in Vancouver, at least to start the season.
Vancouver Canadians Update on Home Location for start of 2021:
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) March 29, 2021
https://t.co/TTytmQn256 pic.twitter.com/pT95nYnb3E