Pirates

Connor Joe’s Big Game Not Enough For Pirates in 7-1 Loss to Blue Jays

Published

1 year ago

March 15, 2023

Connor Joe had a big game for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was all for naught as Pittsburgh was defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 in Dunedin.

Joe finished the afternoon 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and a stolen base. Thanks to the three-hit performance, Joe raised his average to .280 and now carries a .797 OPS.

Joe became the first Pirates’ player this spring to record a three-hit game.

Travis Swaggerty continued his impressive spring training by getting the Pirates on the board with an RBI-single in the seventh inning. Swaggerty is hitting .400 (8 for 20) on the spring and leads the club with seven RBIs.

JT Brubaker worked into the fifth inning. In all, he allowed four runs on four hits, one walk and five strikeouts in 4.1 innings. He’s now up to a Grapefruit League-high 20 punch outs against only three walks in 12.1 innings on the spring.

Left-handed reliever Angel Perdomo struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth inning. Right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski extended his scoreless innings streak to 6.0 to start the spring in the loss.

The Blue Jays scored twice off of Yerry De Los Santos in the seventh inning. The right-hander allowed one hit, walked one and hit a batter. Blue Jays catcher Philip Calrke homered off of John O’Reilly in the eighth.

The Pirates (4-12-3) will travel to Tampa for a Thursday evening matchup against the New York Yankees. Right-hander Johan Oviedo is expected to start for the Bucs.