MLB Mashup Friday: Blue Jays @ Astros
Posted March 9, 2012 4:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KISSIMMIE, FLA — As far as spring training games go, this one couldn’t have gone any better for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Henderson Alvarez started and was dominant over his two innings of work, but it was the bats that stole the show in a 11-2 drubbing of the Houston Astros at Osceola County Stadium.
Brett Lawrie continued his torrid start to the spring with a double, a walk and two RBIs for Toronto. Following his third inning walk, Lawrie caught everyone in the ballpark by surprise — perhaps with the exception of himself — by tagging up and advancing to second on a routine fly to centre.
Adeiny Hechavarria (home run, single), Anthony Gose (single, double), David Cooper (single, double) and Moises Sierra (two singles) had-multi-hit games for the Blue Jays, who ran their spring record to 5-2-1.
Catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud also had a good day at the plate with a walk and a two-run home run to left in the sixth.
“This was an opportunity to get a number of young guys in this game and there were a lot of good things that happened, even setting aside the score,” said Blue Jays manager John Farrell. “We ran the bases exceptionally well. Guys had good reads on fly balls that allowed them to tag up and really led to a couple of extra runs. A lot of quality at-bats up and down the lineup.“
With so many offensive stars on the day, it would hard to be single out one, nevertheless Farrell said one player in particular continues to stand out with his year-over-year growth.
“The guy that continues to impress for me, just with the added strength, is Hechavarria,“ he said. “he put on some kind of swing with that home run ball.“
“We have a very good shortstop in Toronto,“ he added, “But what (Hechavarria) has shown is the ability to hit with a little more authority. It`s very encouraging to see what he`s doing.“
Prior to Friday`s game, Farrell said the Blue Jays are still planning to experiment with using Hechavarria at second base later this spring. Given that the Blue Jays have an open competition for the utility infielder position, Farrell was asked whether Hechavarria could hit his way into that discussion.
“Not likely,“ he said. “He`s too much of importance to us to not get regular at-bats. He`s still developing as a hitter so it`s going to be a priority for us to make sure he gets everyday at-bats. If someone were to open up because of an injury, that would be the only thing that would change that.“
As for Alvarez, the 22-year-old Venezuelan cruised through his two innings of work, surrendering a single run on one hit with three strikeouts.
“Alvarez today, wasn`t as sharp as we`ve seen, there were some fastballs left up to his arm side, which is typically uncharacteristic for him,“ said Farrell.
Luis Perez, who came in place of Alvarez for the third and fourth innings, was also impressive, striking out four on one hit.
“The two innings by Perez were as sharp as his first outing,“ said Farrell. “Luis Perez is throwing the ball very, very well right now. “
The Blue Jays and Astros go at it again Satruday in Dunedin at 1:05 p.m. ET. Dustin McGowan will make his first start of the spring for Toronto.
