Trevor Williams, Pirates pitchers strong in spring-training loss to Blue Jays

Starter Trevor Williams pitched three shutout innings, and five relievers combined to throw five hitless innings in a 3-1 loss for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday afternoon at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Williams allowed two singles and two walks with two strikeouts, but Williams Jerez walked three and gave up a single. He did not retire a batter after relieving Williams in the fourth.

Three scoreless and a couple punchouts on the afternoon for Trevor.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/gGbocJbfsC

— Pirates (@Pirates) March 9, 2020

Nick Mears came on to retire the next three to end the inning, and Keone Kela, Nick Burdi, Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana each followed. The lone baserunner to reach during that stretch was Teoscar Herna on a Kela walk. He was retired by via double play.

Crick and Santana, who are expected to take a high-leverage bullpen role during the regular season, struck out two of the three batters each faced. Santana, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, has made five hitless appearances over five innings this spring.

Kevin Newman had two of the Pirates’ five hits. Prospect Oneil Cruz had the game’s lone extra-base hit – a bases-loaded double in the seventh that scored one run before Kevin Kramer and Jason Martin were tagged out by the catcher after the relay throw home.

The Pirates are 3-13-2 this spring.

The Pirates travel to Lakeland, Fla., on Tuesday to play the Detroit Tigers at 1:05 p.m. Veteran lefty Derek Holland is expected to start, with Dovydas Neverauskas, Chris Stratton and Robbie Erlin also scheduled to pitch.

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