Andrew Triggs waiting for his next chance to impress

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles hit the road again today, returning to Fort Myers to face the Red Sox, before playing back-to-back home games. They can't seem to get enough of I-75.

Mike Wright will make his second spring start after holding the Braves to one hit over two scoreless innings in Lake Buena Vista.

Andrew Triggs will return to the mound in a few days, confident that he'll produce better results after Friday's rough outing in Dunedin. The Blue Jays hit three home runs in the fourth inning, an oddity considering that Triggs is known for keeping the ball on the right side of the fence.

Triggs has surrendered seven home runs in 236 innings over four minor league seasons, but Russell Martin and Justin Smoak took him deep to open the fourth and Dalton Pompey joined the party with two outs.

Smoak admired his blast for a few seconds before breaking into his home run trot. The ball landed a few hours later.

"Base level is, you make bad pitches to good hitters, you're going to get punished," said Triggs, who turns 27 on March 16. "I think I've allowed seven home runs in 3 1/2 years, so you give up three in two-thirds of an inning, it's sort of an anomaly. But you've just got to make better pitches, get ahead and throw strikes, but also quality strikes. It's not just about putting it over the plate.

"Breaking ball wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be and I missed with some fastballs. These are good hitters and they're going to do what good hitters do with bad pitches."

Triggs earned a spot on the 40-man roster after posting a 1.03 ERA and 0.869 WHIP in 61 innings at Double-A Bowie, but the Eastern League doesn't include the type of hitters who litter the Blue Jays lineup.

"Sure, but that's what we're here for," Triggs said. "I was thrilled to get that opportunity and I wish I had put a better foot forward, but the best thing you can do is just learn from situations that don't actually go the way you want them to and build off that. So I was thrilled to get the opportunity. I'm going to continue to build on the things I do well and work on the things I didn't do so well."

Triggs played back the Pompey at-bat in his head and, like any intelligent pitcher, figured out exactly where he went wrong.

"You're obviously not happy with the way you're executing pitches," he said. "I made a bad pitch. It was two pitches before that I threw a breaking ball in a 3-2 count and he fouled it straight back, so he was timed up for it. We went sinker away and he fouled it off. If I could do that again, I probably would have challenged fastball in and said, 'Here you go,' but I went back to the breaking ball because I was commanding it, but it was a little soft and it was up and he did what he was supposed to do.

"Dave (Wallace) and I had a good chat about it, the outing, afterward. He was talking about pitch selection, pitch execution and the way you go about those things. For me, moving forward, between the ears it might sound kind of funny, but I feel really good about how my body feels and the way the ball's coming out of my hand. (Friday) was just a perfect storm of making bad pitches to really good hitters and then doing what really good hitters do with bad pitches. You just move forward and be ready when the lights go on next time."

You've probably figured out by now that Triggs is smart and articulate, that he gives the coaches plenty to work with and won't fall apart at the first whiff of adversity.

Manager Buck Showalter has praised Triggs numerous times over the winter, saying how he's "intrigued" by the right-hander. Or in-trigged, in this case.

"It's nice to hear for sure," Triggs said. "For me, the best thing I need to do is go out and perform like I know I can. It's obviously something I didn't do yesterday, but put one foot in front of the other and get ready to go back out there next time. That's the next thing I can control and I can't wait for that opportunity.

"(Camp) has been great. I really enjoyed it. Top to bottom, from staff to other players and guys who have been around here, everyone's been super-welcoming and it's been fun. It's been fun to get back out on the baseball field. I feel great physically, so it's been a lot of fun."