Andrew McCutchen singles in return, Liover Peguero homers as Pirates beat Blue Jays

Andrew McCutchen made his Grapefruit League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing in a game for the first time since a season-ending partial tear of his left Achilles last September.

And he didn’t miss a beat.

The 37-year-old designated hitter produced a soft single to center field in his first at-bat, accentuated by a bat flip, going 1 for 2 before being replaced by pinch hitter Ali Sanchez in the sixth inning.

Jared Jones touched triple digits three times in tossing two scoreless innings in his first start, and Oneil Cruz hit his first home run of spring training but Liover Peguero was the hero after hitting a winning, two-run homer as the Pirates rallied for a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Jones, a 22-year-old right-hander ranked the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect by Baseball America, reached 101.1, 100.6 and 100.2 mph on his fastball with one strikeout and one walk without giving up a hit on 27 pitches.

Quinn Priester allowed a run on two hits and a walk with a strikeout in two innings, as the Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead when Santiago Espinal drew walk, advanced to third on a double by Nathan Lukes and scored on a groundout by Daulton Varsho in the third inning.

Toronto added two more runs against lefty Bailey Falter in the fifth, with Espinal again starting the rally with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout by Eduardo Escobar before scoring on another double by Lukes. Bo Bichette singled to left to drive in Lukes to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.

Cruz answered with a two-out solo homer to cut it to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, driving Mitch White’s elevated 1-1 fastball 411 feet to straightaway center at an exit velocity of 115 mph, the highest by a Pirate this spring, per Statcast. The Pirates have 21 homers this spring, which led all MLB teams in spring training at the conclusion of the game.

The Pirates tied it in the seventh, when Peguero singled off Ryan Jennings, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Jennings made an error on Gilberto Celestino’s grounder. Tsung-Che Cheng followed with a two-out homer, sending a full-count curveball 409 feet to left-center to make it 3-3.

The Blue Jays took a 5-3 lead in the eighth against Brent Honeywell Jr. when leadoff batter Addison Barger drew a walk, stole second and scored on a double by Will Robertson, who later scored on a two-out single by Miguel Hiraldo.

The Pirates rallied in the bottom of the eighth, which Sanchez started with a single and scored a sacrifice fly by Jase Bowen, who hit into a bases-loaded double play. eguero hit Hayden Juenger’s 1-1 cutter 413 feet to left-center for a two-run homer and 6-5 lead.