Toronto Blue Jays thrash Tampa Bay Rays 5-0 – MLB Spring Training
Toronto Blue Jays thrashed Tampa Bay Rays 5-0 at the Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Florida on Friday, March 16 in their Grapefruit league clash of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session.
Rays’ starter Jeff Niemann made too many unforced errors to let the Jays take complete control over the contest. Niemann is competing for a starting spot on Rays’ rotation and he will be hoping to bounce back strongly on his next spring appearance.
Ricky Romero pitched with great control and accuracy for the Jays as he gave up no hits over four innings pitched, striking out four. Travis Snider also hit his fourth spring home run to cement his place as a left fielder.
"I felt really good," Niemann said. "You didn't exactly see the results towards the end ... but everything felt really great early on, and today was really about getting the pitch count up. That was the biggest thing ... and why I went out there for the
fourth."
"The slider, I threw close to 10. Usually it's less than five in a full game. I'm trying to move it around to righties and lefties and see what I can do with it. I think we had a few strikeouts with it today, so it's coming along," he added.
The Jays have certainly surprised other American League teams this spring. The way they have conducted themselves on the field has been extremely impressive. Toronto hasn’t won the American League East division title since 1993. However, with 12 wins in
14 games this spring, it seems the skipper John Farrell has worked out the formula to be successful in 2012. It will be interesting to see if the Jays can continue their commanding during the regular season to make it through to the post season.
The Rays, on the other hand, will be extremely disappointed after losing yet another spring game. With the Rays winning just three out their nine spring games, Manager Joe Maddon will be an extremely worried man these days. Maddon will be hoping for his
team to turn the tables in second half of Spring Training.
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