The Pittsburgh Pirates got seven strikeouts in three perfect innings from their bullpen but little production at the plate in dropping the penultimate game of their spring training schedule.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored two runs off Pirates left-hander Bailey Falter in a four-hit third inning and held on for a 2-1 win Sunday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla.

Pirates pitchers combined for seven strikeouts without a walk. Reliever Caleb Ferguson recorded two strikeouts in the sixth to extend his scoreless streak to 62⁄3 innings over five games. Tanner Rainey had his fourth consecutive scoreless outing, striking out one in the seventh. And Joey Wentz struck out the side in the eighth and has nine strikeouts over four innings in his last three appearances.

All of the damage against Falter came in the third inning. He was perfect in his other four innings in throwing 49 of his 63 pitches for strikes and got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking for his lone strikeout.

That occurred in the bottom of the third, when Will Wagner hit a leadoff double to left, advanced to third on Ernie Clement’s single and scored on a single by Nathan Lukes for a 1-0 lead. Falter got Bo Bichette to ground into a forceout and struck out Guerrero looking, but Clement scored on a wild pitch to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Falter recovered to get Andres Gimenez to ground out to second to end the inning.

Jared Triolo went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles, accounting for half of the Pirates’ hits against the Blue Jays. Jack Suwinski also had a double.

The Pirates answered in the sixth, which started with an Isiah Kiner-Falefa single to right. After Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt struck out Tommy Pham, he walked Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz to load the bases and Joey Bart hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Kiner-Falefa to make it 2-1. Brendon Little replaced Bassitt and got pinch hitter Adam Frazier to ground out to end the frame.

Frazier remained in the game at first base, and Triolo switched to center field to replace Suwinski, marking the first appearance at center in a Grapefruit League game for Triolo. Frazier had a chance to tie the score when the Pirates had a pair of runners on first and second with two outs in the eighth, but he hit a soft roller back to pitcher Nate Garkow for the last out. Triolo doubled with two outs in the ninth but was stranded when DJ Stewart struck out.

Notes: The Pirates optioned right-handed reliever Kyle Nicolas to Triple-A Indianapolis. There are now 37 players remaining in big league camp. … Right-hander Thomas Harrington is scheduled to start against Bailey Ober when the Pirates visit the Minnesota Twins on Monday in their Grapefruit League finale at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. The game will be televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh.

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