The Welland Tribune

Travis, Jays taking important steps forward

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ROB LONGLEY

DUNEDIN, Fla. — It was just the second pitch of the ball game but arguably one of the most important of the spring for the Blue Jays infield.

Second baseman Devon Travis, making his first big-league appearance at the position since Game 1 of the 2016 ALCS, veered to his left, scooped a Brock Holt grounder and made the easy out at first.

Fast forward to the third inning and it was Josh Donaldson’s turn. Dropping to one knee, the Jays third basemen deftly back-handed a Bryce Brentz grounder, planted firmly and fired off to first. At the bag, Steve Pearce scooped the ball out of the dirt for another snappy Red Sox out.

And in the bottom half of the third, on the first pitch he faced in a big-league game this spring, Travis belted a double to centre field, scoring Kevin Pillar to give the Jays a 3-0 lead.

Sure they were just three preseason plays, but none were without significan­ce as the Jays fielded the closest thing to an opening-day roster since landing in Florida in mid February.

Donaldson and Jose Bautista were in the lineup together for the first time. Pearce was looking good at first base, firming that as an option for him once the season gets going. And overall there was a sense of anticipati­on as the exhibition contests grind to an end.

“Guys are excited to get out there and play,” Donaldson said. “This has been a long spring training here for a lot of people. It’s time to get things moving and get up north.”

In terms of opening day implicatio­ns, however, it was the performanc­e of Travis that meant the most. With a solid big-league game under his belt, opening day is a definite possibilit­y assuming his bruised knee continues to respond.

“I was just so excited I could go out and play five innings of the game and feel good doing it,” Travis said. “I always get a nice little energy bump when I get on a baseball field, even more so when I’ve been away for a while. I might have been bouncing a little more than normal today, but that was great.”

Travis will be evaluated by the team’s medical and training staff on Saturday before a decision is made on the next step. But the way things have gone for the past week, a place on the team charter to Baltimore for the April 3 curtain raiser is realistic.

“He moved around and there wasn’t any hesitation, that’s the thing I was looking at,” Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale said. “We’ll see how he feels (on Saturday). It’s day-to-day and we’ll see it with our eyes and he’ll let us know how he feels physically.”

HAPP-Y HOUR

Starter J.A. Happ continues to build in endurance with authority towards opening day after allowing just three hits and one earned run in 5.1 innings of work.

The left-hander threw to the 80-pitch target he had for the day and had five strikeouts as the Jays recorded a 3-2 win over a Red Sox team light on major league starters.

“I felt good. I threw strikes got ahead better than I had the last few games and just tried to compete like it’s getting closer and closer here,” Happ said. “I feel good overall about (the outing.)”

Happ will have one more start in the spring and figures if he can duplicate the effort against the Red Sox, he’ll be good to go into the season.

“If we could do something similar to today, I’d feel good going in,” Happ said. “If all goes well, we should be ready to rock here.”

QUICK HITS

Jays manager John Gibbons was not with the team on Friday after a short trip home to San Antonio.

He’s expected to be back for Saturday’s game in Tampa against the Yankees … Saturday is the first of back-to-back split squad games with another group of mostly prospects facing the Canadian National Jr. team in Dunedin.

Notable in that contest, however, is that Steve Pearce will make his first appearance in left field this season … Pearce played at first on Friday and looked comfortabl­e. “He’s going to play some this year,” Hale said. “He’s versatile to be able to play first base and left field. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do.”

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