Roansy Contreras walks 6; Chris Bassitt strikes out 9 as Blue Jays blow out Pirates

Roansy Contreras couldn’t find the strike zone, so the Toronto Blue Jays made him pay by drawing walks and with a big swing by Justin Turner.

The Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t hit Chris Bassitt, as the right-hander tossed five scoreless innings before a big swing by Oneil Cruz.

Bassitt fanned nine hitters as the Blue Jays cruised to a 10-3 win over the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla.

Contreras, battling for a spot in the starting rotation, allowed four runs on two hits and six walks while striking out three in four innings. He had trouble locating his fastball from the start, walking George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before giving up a three-run home run to Turner for a 3-0 Blue Jays lead in the first inning.

In the second, Kevin Kiermaier drew a walk and scored on a double to left by Isiah Kiner-Falefa to make it 4-0. Contreras didn’t allow another run or hit over his final two innings but gave up two walks, including one on a pitch-clock violation.

Bassitt, by contrast, kept the Pirates scoreless innings before Cruz tagged an 0-1 changeup on the outside corner in the sixth inning. It was the fourth consecutive game in which Cruz homered, becoming the first Pirate since Brad Eldred in 2007 to accomplish that feat, and his fifth homer in his last 11 at-bats.

Bassitt recorded his ninth strikeout by getting Liover Peguero swinging at a 2-2 cutter before being replaced by Trevor Richards after holding the Pirates to three hits and one walk over 5 1/3 innings.

In a matchup of two players who were involved in a trade for one another in July 2021, Tellez hit a line-drive double to right off Richards. Richards got some revenge when Ewry Espinal, who pinch-ran for Tellez, was picked off at second base to end the inning.

The Blue Jays made it 5-1 against Ryder Ryan in the bottom of the sixth. Kiner-Falefa drew a walk, advanced to second on Cavan Biggio’s single and to third on a double play before scoring on Bo Bichette’s single to right.

The Pirates answered when Gilbert Celestino recorded his team-leading 11th hit, a double to drive in pinch runner Shalin Polanco to cut it to 5-2. But Eduardo Escobar hit a three-run homer off Carmen Mlodzinski to stretch the lead to 8-2, marking the first run allowed by the Pirates righty reliever in five outings this spring. Rafael Lantigua hit a two-run single off Cy Nielsen to give Toronto an eight-run edge. The Pirates cut it to 10-3 when Polanco singled to score Espinal in the eighth.

Notes: Left-hander Marco Gonzales is expected to start for the Pirates against right-hander Grayson Rodriguez when the Baltimore Orioles visit LECOM Park at 3:05 p.m. Thursday. … That Grapefruit League game will be followed by the Pirates and Orioles prospects playing in the Spring Breakout at 7:05 p.m on MLB Network and SportsNet Pittsburgh, with right-hander Paul Skenes scheduled to start against lefty Cade Povich.