DUNEDIN, Florida - Canada rallied late but lost 10-7 to the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 4,496 fans at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla., on Tuesday afternoon.
It was their first exhibition game ahead of the World Baseball Classic, which will begin for them on Saturday with an 11:00 a.m. E.T. game against Colombia.
It was a valiant effort by the Canadians who had seven different players register RBIs and trailed 7-0 after two innings.
Jacob Robson (Windsor, Ont.) hit a solo home run for Canada in the eighth inning, while Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) had an RBI double in the same frame to account for Canada’s only other extra-base hit.
The Blue Jays fielded a starting lineup that included six of their regular position players and Kevin Gausman, their probable Opening Day starter, who tossed two scoreless innings.
Left-hander Logan Allen started for Canada and struggled with his control, issuing five walks in the first two innings before he was replaced by Noah Skirrow (Cambridge, Ont.). Skirrow walked two in the second inning and allowed a two-run single to Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes and an RBI single to Jesus Sanchez to make the score 7-0.
But Skirrow settled down to strike out the side in the third.
From there, Canada’s bullpen was strong, with Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.), Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.), Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, B.C.) and Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que.) contributing scoreless innings.
Canada’s bats came alive in the sixth inning when Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) and Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) singled to start the frame. Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) followed with a sacrifice fly to centre field that scored Toro to get Canada on the board. Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) then singled to centre to plate Naylor to make it 7-2.
Canada added a run in the seventh when Blue Jays reliever Tanner Andrews walked three batters to load the bases and Jared Young (Prince George, B.C.) hit a deep fly to right field to score Bo Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) to make it 7-3.
The resilient Canadians then plated four more runs to tie the game in the eighth. After Robson’s leadoff homer, Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) walked and Matt Davidson was hit by a pitch before Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) hit a hard ground ball past Blue Jays first baseman Riley Tirotta to score Lopez. Clarke followed with a double to plate Davidson and move Hicks to third. Hicks then scored to tie the game on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.).
But the Blue Jays regained the lead the following frame when Tirotta clubbed a three-run home run off right-hander Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.) to put them ahead 10-7, which would prove to be the final score.
Canada will now face the Philadelphia Phillies in their final WBC exhibition game tomorrow afternoon at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla with the first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. E.T.
(Story written by Kevin Glew/Canadian Baseball Network)
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