Baltimore Orioles 3, Toronto Blue Jays 1: First place in the Grapefruit League

The Orioles continue to dominate the Grapefruit League with another win, this one a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Jake Arrieta started the game and pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings, the longest by an Orioles starting pitcher yet this spring. It wasn't all roses, though, as Jake walked three batters and, as is a regular trouble with Arrieta, he just threw too many pitches. But Arrieta was very happy with his outing, check out his quotes over at MASN.

The Orioles took an early lead with solo runs in the both the first and second innings. In the first Lew Ford doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a ground ball by Nolan Reimold. In the second they scored on back-to-back doubles by Taylor Teagarden and Danny Valencia. Their final run of the day came in the top of the 9th as a Blue Jays pitcher named Bobby Korecky gave up a sacrifice fly to Buck Britton. Britton knocked in Trayvon Robinson who had doubled earlier.

The only Blue Jays run came off of Daniel Schlereth, who I'm beginning to suspect isn't very good at baseball. Schlereth walked Jose Bautista, then Bautista moved to third on a ground ball and came in to score on a sac fly by Mark DeRosa.

In addition to Arrieta and Schlereth, the Orioles also used pitchers Adam Russell, Troy Patton, and Daniel McCutchen in the game. The three combined for three perfect innings to end the game, with Patton striking out three in 1 2/3 innings work.

Tomorrow the Orioles will play two split-squad games. They'll be on the road against the Phillies and at home against the Twins. Both games will be on MLB.tv and Gameday Audio, and the home game will be broadcast on MASN and 1090AM.