Things worth mentioning…

• Matt Shoemaker made his first appearance of the spring and in a Blue Jays uniform. The former Angel surrendered a run in the first inning (a solo bomb to some guy named Jason Martin) but was perfect otherwise. Shoemaker would go two innings, surrendering just the one hit while collecting one strikeout. He was sitting around 92-93 mph on the gun and spent a lot of time around the strike zone.
• The other pitchers combined to completely shut the Pirates down. Sammy Gaviglio came into the game and pitched the third and fourth innings, working around a couple of hits and a walk. Thomas Pannone pitched a perfect frame, a big improvement from his 2019 debut in which he allowed five runs at the hands of the Tigers. Yennsy Diaz worked around two hits and a walk thanks to two strikeouts and Dwight Smith Jr. gunning out a runner at home. Everyone’s second-favourite teen Elvis Luciano tossed a scoreless inning, as did Cory Copping (the dude the Jays got in the John Axford trade), and Zach Jackson. All told, the Jays pitchers held the Pirates to one run on six hits and three walks. Not bad!
• What about the bats? Kendrys Morales was the star of the day offensively, driving in both of Toronto’s runs with an RBI single and an RBI double. Brandon Drury also went two-for-three, while Kevin Pillar, Justin Smoak, Jonathan Davis, and Rowdy Tellez all picked up singles. Exciting times!