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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays overcame an early Astros lead to win 8-3
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Mar 10, 2025, 16:15 EDTUpdated: Mar 17, 2025, 06:54 EDT
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If Spring Training is any indication, it’s going to be a good season for the Toronto Blue Jays.
On Monday afternoon, the Blue Jays faced off against the Houston Astros, defeating them 8-3 to move to 10-6-1 during Spring Training. Their record is the best in the Grapefruit League and they’re tied for the fourth-best win percentage in the league. Let’s take a look at what happened.
In the top of the third, the Astros scored all three of their runs, starting with Jake Meyers’ solo home run, followed by two sacrifice flys from Victor Caratini and Jon Singleton, making it a 3-0 game. The Blue Jays got on the board in their half of the third, as Bo Bichette mashed a ball for a solo home run.
Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth and the Blue Jays took control. Will Wagner hit his fourth double of the spring to score Michael Stefanic, before Ernie Clement hit his second double, scoring two runners to take a 4-3 lead. The inning was capped off by a sacrifice fly from top prospect, Arjun Nimmala.
A sacrifice fly from Christian Bethancourt scored another run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-3. In the bottom of the eighth, Addison Barger hit his second home run of Spring Training to make it an 8-3 game, with neither team scoring after.

Takeaways…

Spring Training success doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s hard not to feel a twinge of excitement heading into the 2025 season. So far this Spring Training, the Blue Jays have scored the second-most runs and are tied for the fifth-most home runs with 24. Everything seems to be clicking but it won’t matter until the regular season begins in late March.
The team hit two home runs and three doubles. Bo Bichette and Addison Barger each hit their second home run of Spring Training, while Alejandro Kirk hit his first double, Ernie Clement hit his second double, and Will Wagner hit his fourth double. Kirk also hit a single, as did Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander, George Springer, and Michael Stefanic.
Pitching was better today than it was yesterday. Kevin Gausman got the start, finishing with a line of 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 4 K to bring his Spring Training ERA to 6.75. An encouraging sign was that he averaged 95 mph on his fastball and reached as high as 96 mph.
Richard Lovelady had a solid outing, pitching an inning and two-thirds with three strikeouts. Chad Green struck out a batter in his inning of work, while Nick Sandlin walked a batter and struck out two in his inning of work. The most impressive pitcher for the Jays on Monday was Jake Bloss, striking out five in three innings of work to pick up the save. Bloss also generated a game-high 12 whiffs.
The Blue Jays are back in action on Tuesday, as they host the Minnesota Twins at 1:07 PM ET. Chris Bassitt is expected to start for the Blue Jays.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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