After four consecutive losses to open the 2011 spring, two at the hands of the Detroit Tigers, followed by a loss to former Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay & the Philadelphia Phillies before another loss to the Tigers, the Toronto Blue Jays put up a one in the win column.

Brandon Morrow made his spring debut against the Tampa Bay Rays today and looked fantastic pitching three shutout innings, striking out four hitters. The hard-throwing right-hander faced eleven hitters, allowing two singles to Matt Joyce and Felipe Lopez. He used a change-up successfully while pitching to an unfamiliar face behind the plate in J.P. Arencibia. Jose Molina was Morrow’s exclusive catcher during most of the 2010 season. Blue Jays manager John Farrell was impressed with his young pitcher and had the following to say about him as well as using Arencibia in place of Molina:

“It was just good to see him go out and make some pitch selections on his own “

“Have some conversation between the innings and go out and execute a game plan. While there’s a certain comfort zone there, you don’t want to make it a security blanket for him, either”

The day was not a success for every Blue Jays pitcher, as off-season free agent acquisition Octavio Dotel struggled mightily in his appearance. The 37-year old Dominican allowed three earned runs on four hits, allowing two doubles to Ben Zobrist and Dan Johnson. The three run inning gave Tampa a 4-3 lead after Toronto scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning thanks in part to an Edwin Encarnacion two-run home run. Tampa added a run in the top of the fourth inning on a RBI single from Lopez.

Tampa starter David Price also had his struggles on the mound, allowing three earned runs on two hits, which included two hits, a wild pitch and a failed pick-off attempt at first base which saw his throw sail over the bag.

After Price exited the game Tampa used successful appearances from Jonah Bayliss, Wade Davis, Adam Russell, Chris Bootcheck and Brandon Gomes to cruise through six scoreless innings before the Jays battled back in the bottom of the ninth inning against Richard De Los Santos. The 26-year old righty blew the opportunity to close the door for the Rays, allowing two earned runs on four hits for the loss. Darin Mastroianni was crucial in the ninth for Toronto as he stole second base after a lead-off single then moved over to third on Jacob Marisnick’s sacrifice bunt, which also moved Ryan Budde to second after he walked. Jonathan Diaz hit a walk-off single to score the two runs for Toronto’s first win of the spring 5-4.

Missing in action was Toronto slugger Jose Bautista, who took the day off after experiencing tightness in his left quadriceps muscle. The injury is not severe and the team was merely taking precautionary measures with their star player. Bautista is off to a slow start offensively in spring going 0-5 with three strikeouts thus far.

Toronto will now play the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1:05pm EST tomorrow at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin. Brett Cecil will make his second start of the spring with pitchers Scott Richmond, Robert Ray, Carlos Villanueva and Jon Rauch all scheduled to make an appearance.

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