DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Jose Bautista kept up his torrid start to the spring, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs Thursday that sent the Toronto Blue Jays over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5.
A day after hitting a long home run against the Phillies in his first at-bat of exhibition play, Bautista had an RBI double in the first inning off Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee.
Lee allowed two hits and a run in two innings. He struck out three and walked none.
"Obviously I'm trying to throw strikes," Lee said. "I made a couple mistakes. The first double was, for sure, a mistake. I tried to throw a backdoor cutter and it ended up right down the middle."
"And then Bautista, I just missed on the pitch before and tried to throw the same pitch. It wasn't a bad one, it's just you get into a 2-2 count with him in that situation is not where you want to be. He put a good swing on it."
Lee gave up doubles to two of the first three batters he faced, then stopped the Blue Jays. He is the odds-on favorite to start on opening day March 31 at Texas.