Instant Reaction: Nathan Lukes hits grand slam in Blue Jays’ 9-2 victory over Pirates
On Friday afternoon, the Blue Jays hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in Dunedin, beating the National League team in Grapefruit League action by a score of 9-2. Their Spring Training record now moves to 3-8. Let’s take a look at what happened in this one.
In the top of the second, the Pirates took a 1-0 lead thanks to an up-the-middle single from Temarr Johnson, scoring Dominic Fletcher. Their other run was scored thanks to a home run by Fletcher, as he hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth.
The Blue Jays rallied in the bottom half of the fourth. With runners on the corner and one out, prospect Josh Rivera hit an RBI single to cut the Pirates’ lead in half. Then with the bases loaded, Nathan Lukes hit a grand slam for his first home run of Spring Training, giving the Jays a 5-2 lead.
Nathan Lukes has left TD Ballpark 😳
It’s a GRAND SLAM!
The kids are CRUSHING!
Yohendrick Pinango and Eddie Micheletti Jr. go back-to-back 💪
Takeaways…
In the bullpen, Jeff Hoffman pitched in his first outing since that game, pitching a scoreless inning with a strikeout. Following Hoffman was Jorge Alcala, who struck out two and allowed two hits in his inning of work. Tyler Rogers struck out two in his inning, picking up his second hold of Spring Training, so get used to that. Brendon Little struck out a batter and walked a batter in his inning of work, and Tommy Nance struck out two in his inning of work.
Little’s five whiffs were the most of any reliever, but Nance’s four weren’t too far behind. José Berríos had eight whiffs, striking out three but allowing two earned runs over four innings. Still, his 3.38 ERA this Spring Training is an encouraging sign.
The Jays had 11 hits in this game, with nearly half of them being of the extra-base variety. Nathan Lukes’ grand slam was the biggest hit of the game, while both Yohendrick Piñango and Eddie Micheletti went deep to put no doubt on who won this game. Riley Tirotta hit his third double of the spring, and Jonatan Clase hit a triple. Micheletti had the Jays’ only multi-hit game.
The Jays are back in action on Saturday at 1:05 PM ET, as Max Scherzer is expected to make his first start since the Blue Jays re-signed him. They’ll face the 5-7 Philadelphia Phillies.