Fun game today. The pitching was very good outside of one wobble from Kevin Gausman, and the offence got contributions from up and down the lineup. Plus there were bombs.
Kevin Gausman got off to a good start, striking out the side in the first and allowing only a single in the second. It all went a little sideways in the third, though. Jake Meyers lead off with a home run chipped just inside the left field foul pole. A walk and two singles loaded the bases with none out to put him in a serious jam. He got a sac fly, trading a run for the first out, and then was lifted for Richard Lovelady. Lovelady got another sac fly, and then got some help from Alejandro Kirk picking Cam Smith off third to get out of the inning. It wasn’t a terrible outing for Gausman, he did strike out four against one walk and his fastball was in the 94-96 zone where you want it to be, but it wasn’t great either.
Lovelyady would return to strike out the side in the fourth. Meanwhile, the offence went quietly in the first. In the second, they had a great chance as a George Springer walk, a Kirk single, and a Will Wagner hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out. A rare Ernie Clement K and a Joey Loperfido fly out ended the threat before they could capitalize, though. They got on the board in the third, on a bomb of a solo homer by Bo Bichette. The fourth was another 1-2-3 inning for the offence.
Chad Green got the Astros in order in the fifth, picking up one strikeout. In the bottom half, Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Anthony Santander singled, but neither came around to score.
The sixth was given to Nick Sandlin. He walked Victor Caratini, but got a pair of punch outs to end the inning. The Jays offence finally properly got going in their half. Andres Gimenez lead off with a walk, and then Kirk, Wagner, and Clement hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to take a 4-3 lead. Joey Loperfido and Arjun Nimmala hit balls squarely too, but they went for sac flies that advanced Clement to third and then scored him, making it 5-3.
Jake Bloss came in for the seventh and looked as good as he has all spring, striking out two. He’d return for the eighth and again face the minimum, this time via a single, an nice double play turn by Michael Stefanic and Arjun Nimmala, and a fly out. In the ninth, he walked Victor Caratini to lead off, but bounced back to strike out the next three batters and end the game. It was a dominant outing, by far his strongest of the preseason, with a dozen swinging strikes on 37 pitches and five strikeouts across 10 batters faced.
The offence added one to the lead in the seventh, on an Anthony Santander walk, singles by Springer and Michael Stefanic, and a Christian Bethancourt sac fly. In the eight, Peyton Williams walked to set the table for Addison Barger, who launched one at 114mph off the bat, 420 feet to right field to extend the lead to 8-3. For context, 647 hitters recorded a ball in play last season, and only 60 hit one that hard. It tied Bryce Harper’s hardest hit ball of the season.
It’s another home game tomorrow as the Twins come to TD ballpark. Chris Bassitt will take on Andrew Morris. First pitch is set for 1:07pm ET.