Fitzgerald Cecilio – 4E Sports Reporter
Dunedin, FL, United States (4E Sports) – The Toronto Blue Jays exploded for eight runs in the fifth inning en route to a 10-6 victory over the New York Yankees Wednesday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
Third baseman Brett Lawrie smacked a solo home run and an RBI double, Melky Cabrera had a three-hit afternoon with two RBIs while Jose Bautista had a pair of singles in the victory as the Jays improved to 13-13 in the spring.
Brett Cecil (2-0) earned the win after pitching a scoreless fifth while right-hander Preston Claiborne (0-1) absorbed the loss after he was charged with five runs during the eight-run fifth for the Yankees (15-12).
The Yankees roughed up R.A. Dickey for six runs over just three innings. Dickey allowed seven hits, four walks and struck out just two in his final outing of the spring.
Dickey openly admitted before the game his start was scheduled to be brief and he was going to work on a few specific things.
“Today was not a day about results for me,” said Dickey, who finished the spring with a 5.79 ERA. “Ideally it would be great if you could get out of there with some clean innings, but what was paramount for me was exercising my arm in a way where I felt good.
“I was able to use a large range of velocities and I mixed in pitches that I would never throw during the regular season to put it in their head that might be another weapon I might use on them later. I did exactly what I wanted to do,” he added.
The Yankees started first with a walk by Derek Jeter, which came just before Carlos Beltran, Alfonso Soriano and Kelly Johnson recorded three consecutive singles for an early 2-0 lead.
The production continued in the second as Dean Anna and Beltran had a pair of RBI doubles. Soriano later added a sacrifice fly for a 6-0 advantage.
Lawrie opened the scoring for the Blue Jays in the second inning with his second homer of the spring. Edwin Encarnacion later added an RBI single before Toronto put together an extended rally in the fifth.
Meanwhile, Toronto named Dustin McGowan to its rotation on Wednesday morning. He beat out J.A. Happ, Todd Redmond, Esmil Rogers and Marcus Stroman to earn the start in the Blue Jays’ home opener against the Yankees on April 4.
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