Chris Bassitt closed out the spring the way he played all along, looking strong. The Pirates managed only a double and a walk through five innings. He slipped a little in the sixth, loading the bases with one out on a single and a pair of walks, and then a sac fly plated the only run he’d allow. He was pulled at that point, having reached 92 pitches, and Brendon Little got a ground out to finish escaping the jam. His final line was one run on two hits and three walks in 5.2, striking out four. It was a typical good Bassitt outing, not dominating but using his command and deep repertoire to consistently stay a step ahead of the hitters and draw lots of non-threatening contact.
Meanwhile, the offence mostly looked like they’d enjoyed their Grapefruit League celebratory greyhounds last night. Nobody reached in the first two innings. In the third, Will Wagner lined a double because that seems to be all he knows how to do, and Ernie Clement and Nathan Lukes followed with singles to put Toronto on the board 1-0. Clement would come in on a wild pitch to double the advantage and Anthony Santander chipped in a single, but at that point they went back to sleep, going fifteen up fifteen down over the next five innings.
Luckily, the bullpen were I guess not invited to the party and looked good. Little came back to get the first two outs of the seventh but then gave up a double and yielded to Nick Sandlin, who got a K to get out of it and returned to begin the eighth. He issued a walk then got a line out and was lifted for Nate Garkow (?). Garkow worked around another walk to get out of that inning, then returned to strike out three in a scoreless ninth.
The team finishes the spring 19-10, which I would take as a regular season winning percentage I think. We’ll have more of our prospect list and some bantering the next three days (we post every day, or else Dakers sets the dogs on us again). The next game thread will be the real thing, though, as the Orioles come to Toronto to kick off the 2025 season. Jose Berrios gets the opening day start, against Zach Eflin. First pitch is set for 3:07pm ET. See you there.