Longoria reps Rays in Stroman's Classic tuneup
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Marcus Stroman struck out three in his final start before the World Baseball Classic and Steve Pearce had two RBIs in the Blue Jays' 5-3 loss to the Rays on Sunday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
Stroman, who will pitch for Team USA in the Classic, allowed four hits in 2 2/3 innings and one run on Evan Longoria's two-out single that scored Corey Dickerson in the third.
"I felt great," said Stroman, who threw 48 pitches. "I got to mix … all my pitches. I worked on tempo, delivery. I feel great going into [the Classic with Team] USA."
Making his first spring start at designated hitter as he continues recovering from September surgery to repair the flexor tendons in his right elbow, Pearce drove in Jose Bautista with a sacrifice fly off Rays starter Alex Cobb in the second inning. Pearce followed in the sixth with a line-drive single to center that brought home prospect Jon Berti.
Cobb allowed a run on three hits, with a strikeout in three innings.
"I would say the results weren't great," Cobb said. "But I'd say I threw some good pitches and had some defenders in good position to get me out of [bad situations]. But overall, great day because I'm getting so much more information back on what my pitches are doing when I make little adjustments here and there. So what the essence of Spring Training is for, today was a good day."
Pearce is expected to remain at DH for the next two weeks before gradually working his way back into the field. In the meantime, the 33-year-old -- who signed a two-year, $12.5 million contract with Toronto after splitting last season with the Rays and Orioles -- continues progressing through a throwing program.
Tampa Bay rallied with three runs in the eighth on back-to-back singles by Andrew Velazquez and 2014 first-round Draft pick Casey Gillaspie and a fielding error by Toronto center fielder Darrell Ceciliani. Johnny Field capped the scoring on another error in the ninth.
Rays Up Next: The Rays are off on Monday before traveling to Tampa on Tuesday afternoon for a 1:05 p.m. ET contest against the Yankees in an MLB.TV broadcast. Jake Odorizzi will make his second start of the spring. Also scheduled to pitch are Austin Pruitt, Shawn Tolleson, Andrew Kittredge, Christopher Guerrieri, and Ryan Yarbrough.
Blue Jays Up Next: Following an off-day on Monday, J.A. Happ will make his second spring start on Tuesday against Team Canada in a World Baseball Classic exhibition at 1:07 p.m. ET on MLB.TV. The left-hander struck out two in a pair of scoreless innings on Thursday against the Phillies.
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