FORT MYERS, Fla. — Nick Blackburn gave up five runs, three earned, on seven hits in three innings as the Minnesota Twins fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 7-4 after a one-hour, 10-minute rain delay at Hammond Stadium.
Blackburn gave up two homers to the slugging Toronto lineup and said the Blue Jays were sitting on his fastball, which he had trouble locating.
Jose Mijares followed Blackburn with a scoreless fourth, and Joe Nathan backed that up with a scoreless fifth. Nathan has not allowed a run in four spring outings and said he feels ready to start pitching every other day, rather than every third day, as soon as the Twins give him the OK.
The rain delay forced Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to rearrange his lineup, which originally featured Tsuyoshi Nishioka batting second and playing second, Delmon Young batting third and playing in the outfield for the first time this spring, and Jim Thome at designated hitter. By the time the Twins took the field, none of those players remained in the mix.
Luke Hughes, playing in his 10th Grapefruit League game this year, drove in his ninth and 10th runs of spring with a double in the first inning. And Jason Kubel, now batting .429 this spring, drove in one run with a sixth-inning triple.