LeBlanc on outing and rotation competition (O's lose to Jays)

Left-hander Wade LeBlanc and right-hander Dean Kremer are the only Orioles starters to record scoreless outings to this point in spring training. Today in Dunedin, LeBlanc could not duplicate that, but he pitched out a jam in his third inning as the O's faced the Toronto Blue Jays.

LeBlanc went two scoreless innings on one hit on March 3 against Atlanta and then worked on the back fields between that outing and today's game.

He faced four batters and retired them all in a scoreless, 15-pitch last of the first. With two outs, he fanned Bo Bichette, but he reached on a passed ball charged to Pedro Severino. LeBlanc then got Teoscar Hernández on a grounder to put up the zero.

But the Blue Jays took the lead against him in the second. Randal Grichuk walked on a 3-2 pitch with one out and scored when Cavan Biggio doubled to right. Alejandro Kirk followed with a line drive single to center for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead. LeBlanc needed 29 pitches in the second.

LeBlanc pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the Blue Jays third. He got Rowdy Tellez to fly out and he fanned O's killer Grichuk swinging at a 3-2 cutter.

No pitcher wants to get into jams, but you need to work on getting out of those during spring training, too.

"Yeah, I mean, so those kind of situations are where pitchers make their money," LeBlanc said during an in-game Zoom interview. "You know, it's good to kind of get some of those in, feel that adrenaline spike and kind of learn how to deal with that. Because once you're going through an offseason with a lot of down time, you kind of lose that feeling and it's good to get it back."

So he goes three innings this afternoon, allowing two hits and two runs with three walks and two strikeouts. He threw 66 pitches, 36 for strikes, and has an ERA of 3.60 in two spring outings.

"Actually, stuff felt a bit crisper today than it did in the outing against the Braves," LeBlanc said. "It was just really the second inning kind of got out of whack mechanically. Which is going to happen at this time of the year. So kind of take the good, take the positives and work on the negatives in between outings and go from there."

LeBlanc was asked to size up the rotation competition to this point.

"I think you watch some of these young guys throw and the kind of arms we have in this camp, it's different than it was last year, for sure. So if you're an Orioles fan, there is a lot to be excited about moving forward. To answer your question, the competition is definitely a lit bit stiffer. So kind of got to be on your game every time you get out there," said LeBlanc, who has allowed two runs in five spring innings.

Toronto's starter, left-hander Robbie Ray, used a fastball topping at 97 mph to retire the Orioles in order in the first three innings, needing just 28 pitches. He threw five in the first, 13 in the second and 10 in the third. The O's offense has slowed in recent games, and has scored just 12 runs in the previous five games.

Baltimore got its first two baserunners in the fourth when Austin Hays walked with one out and Chance Sisco with two down. But Tyler Nevin fanned on a 2-2 slider to end that threat.

Ray went four scoreless innings on no hits and needed 52 pitches. Francisco Liriano replaced him and walked two, but did not allow a run in the top of the fifth.

Through five at-bats today, the Orioles went 0-for-15.

Toronto scored once in the fourth against Tanner Scott, who allowed the first two batters to reach on a walk and single. George Springer's sac fly expanded the Blue Jays lead to 3-0.

The O's have lost six of seven games and trail by that score in the fifth.

This entry will be updated.

That's a final: The Orioles didn't get a hit until the top of the seventh and lost 5-0 to Toronto in an eight-inning game in Dunedin this afternoon. The Blue Jays, leading by the final margin, still batted in the last of the eighth.

The Orioles have lost seven of the last eight and are 3-9-1. They've scored 12 runs in their past six games.

The club's 2019 top draft pick, catcher Adley Rutschman, ended the hitless run with two outs in the top of the seventh. On a 2-2 count, he fouled off five straight pitches from right-hander Jordan Romano and four of them were fastballs at 96 and 97 mph. He then doubled to center on a slider and is now 3-for-9 with two doubles this spring.

Toronto extended a 3-0 lead when Biggio hit a two-run homer off O's righty Ashton Goudeau with two outs in the fifth. That made the score 5-0 on Biggio's first spring homer.

Goudeau went two innings, needing 33 pitches, and allowed two runs and two hits. Eric Hanhold pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout and Conner Greene pitched a scoreless eighth.

The Orioles went 1-for-25 at-bat with 13 strikeouts and four walks versus five Blue Jays pitchers.