Jays notebook: Osuna is perfect, speed gun isn’t

DUNEDIN, FLA.— Jays closer Roberto Osuna had a solid, one-inning outing Wednesday, getting two weak ground balls and a strikeout.

But if there was concern about his velocity going in — it was down when he pitched an inning Monday — there were no answers in the 3-1 loss to the Yankees.

The speed gun display on the scoreboard went dead when Osuna was on the mound, but came back on less than an inning later.

“He looked good, I thought he was popping strikes on a few pitches, his pitches were popping for him,” Jays manager John Gibbons said, adding that he had no idea why the scoreboard broke down.

Osuna gave up a pair of unearned runs, including a homer, in his previous outing Monday, his first since returning from the World Baseball Classic with tightness in his upper back.

While he also got roughed up in the WBC, giving up five runs, four earned, without getting an out against Italy, Osuna hasn’t allowed an earned run in Grapefruit League games, striking out seven in five innings. KNIFE NEWS: The Jays announced Wednesday that right-handed reliever Bo Schultz underwent Tommy John surgery.

There is no timeline yet for a return, but rehab from that surgery generally takes between 12 and 18 months. SLOW WITH SANCHEZ: Aaron Sanchez, who left his last spring start with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, will stay in Florida while the rest of the Jays head to Montreal for exhibition games.

But the Jays’ plans to have him pitch in a simulated game with minorleaguers appears to have been scrapped. Sanchez will likely throw a bullpen session instead, then report to Baltimore for the start of the season.

He is scheduled to pitch in Toronto’s fifth game, when the Jays visit Tampa Bay.