Phillies pound Blue Jays, get crushed by Orioles

Ryan Howard hit his third home run of the spring, a towering three-run shot, in the Phillies' 13-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Phillies also lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 12-3, in split-squad action.

In Clearwater, the Phillies' bats came alive and performed as they have for a good portion of the spring. In Sarasota, the Phillies' arms weren't working to perfection.

Whether it was the weather or just some early spring kinks to be worked out, the Phillies split their only split-squad action of the spring, routing the Toronto Blue Jays, 13-5, while falling to the Baltimore Orioles, 12-3.

Kyle Kendrick and Jeremy Horst were both hit hard by Baltimore. But a closer look at the box score will tell you that two players did most of the work for the Orioles.

Matt Wieters hit a three-run home run in the first that was followed by a solo shot from Conor Jackson, capping a four-run first. Kendrick allowed four runs on four hits in two innings of work.

The Phillies cut the lead to two with a two-run shot by Michael Young, his first homer of the spring.

But Wieters and Jackson would strike again in the fifth. Wieters hit a ground-rule double that scored two runs. Jackson followed with a three-run shot. The seven-run inning, primarily off of Horst, was capped by a two-run by Jason Pridie.

Freddy Galvis hit a solo home run in the eighth that was answered by an RBI single for Danny Valencia, also in the eighth.

Zach Miner, Kyle Simon and Jake Diekman also got work in the loss. Miner and Diekman were each charged with one earned run in their outings.

Against the Blue Jays, it was another slow start for the Phillies. Adam Lind drove in the first run of the game in the first on a sac fly.

The Phillies tied the game in the bottom of the first. After a triple by Kevin Frandsen, he scored on a wild pitch.

But the Blue Jays got the lead right back with runs scoring on an RBI double by Henry Blanco and an error by Yuniesky Betancourt. Jose Bautista also homered in the top of the third to make it 4-1.

The Phillies would pick things up from there. Betancourt drove in a run with a single in the third. Domonic Brown belted a solo shot, his third of the season, in the fourth to cut the lead to one.

Brown's blast was monstrous. But Ryan Howard topped him in the fifth with a three-run smash out of the ballpark to give the Phillies the lead.

Mark DeRosa cut the lead to one with a solo shot in the sixth, but the Phillies would add four more runs in the sixth, all scoring on doubles by Betancourt, Frandsen and Michael Martinez. 

An RBI triple by Jermaine Mitchell scored two more runs and Darin Ruf added another with an RBI groundout to cap the scoring in the 13-5 win.

Aaron Cook started the game and allowed four runs – three earned – on seven hits in four innings. Justin DeFratus, J.C. Ramirez and Joe Savery all had scoreless outings. Antonio Bastardo allowed one run in his inning of work.

The Phillies' spring training record is now 5-6 after two games of different feel. But the results were primarily positive again.

The Phillies travel to face the Pirates tomorrow afternoon at 1:05.

Kevin Durso is a contributor for Philliedelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.