George Springer made his name known on Wednesday afternoon, blasting two home runs as the Houston Astros downed the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
The Astros wasted no time getting on the board, posting four runs in the top of the first inning. JD Martinez started the assault with an RBI single to left field, that scored Robbie Grossman. Fernando Martinez then bounced into a force out to send Brett Wallace to the plate.
Matt Dominguez and Carlos Corporan followed up with back-to-back doubles, to get the early lead on Toronto. The damage was enough to send starter Brad Lincoln to the dugout very early.
Then Springer put his bat to work. With Dominguez and Corporan already on base, Springer belted a home run to right field to give the Astros a 7-1 lead. And it wouldn't be the last time his name would come up in the game.
He turned around just an inning later and did it again. This time, the 23-year old hit a two-run shot to left field, scoring Fernando Martinez and increasing the damage to a 10-1 lead. Springer finished the day 2-for-5 with a total of five RBI's for Houston.
Toronto's lone spark of offense came off the bat of JP Arencibia. Houston had sent in Wesley Wright to replace starter Alex White, when Arencibia properly welcomed him with a shot to center field. It was the sole run that the Blue Jays could scratch out of nine hits.
The Astros struck for 10 runs on 18 hits and only managed a single error. White wins his spring debut, allowing just one hit over his two innings of work. Brad Lincoln was badgered for four runs on three hits in the 2/3 of an inning he lasted.
After the game, Springer offered a few comments about the successful day he had at the plate.
One the first one, I took two fastballs. The object there was just to get the guys in from second and third. The infield was back and I was just trying to hit something hard up the middle and I got a pitch I could handle on the outer half and was able to get the barrel to it.
On the second one, I was trying to get my timing back and just hitting the ball hard. I honestly say the key to those at-bats were the guys on base ahead of me. Dominguez and Corporan had some great at-bats and were able to get me into a fastball-hitting count.
Alex White, who came to Houston in an off-season trade with Colorado is competing for a spot on the starting rotation, and looked solid in his first outing of the spring.
Both the Astros and the Blue Jays will see the Yankees on Thursday, as New York will send their split-squad teams to the field tomorrow. Both games are scheduled to start at 1:05 P.M. Eastern.
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