DUNEDIN, Fla. -- If this is it for Jayson Aquino this spring, the left-hander made a nice impression.
Facing a tough Blue Jays lineup on the road, Aquino allowed just one run on three hits and a walk, striking out four in his first Grapefruit League start, a 2-1 Orioles win.
"I felt good, [more] importantly, I felt concentrated," Aquino said through his translator. "I just concentrated on my pitches, regardless of the lineup I had to face."
Aquino, who is a candidate for the fifth rotation spot and could make the Opening Day club as part of the bullpen, allowed a first-inning RBI groundout and got better as he went along. Pitching low in the zone all day, he garnered a steady dose of ground balls, leaving the Jays frustrated most of the afternoon.
"Anytime you can go on the road, [this was a] good look for him," manager Buck Showalter said of Aquino, who has allowed just two earned runs over 15 spring innings. "He's been pitching real well all spring. Real excited for his spring."
Pitching mainly out of the bullpen, Aquino said he was a little rusty starting the game.
"But as the game was going on, I felt better," Aquino said. "More in [the] rhythm of the game and confident that I was able to have a good game today."
It was another good look for the O's, who won't need a fifth starter until April 15 and won't make a final decision on who gets that nod for some time.
"These guys are bright," Showalter said of the rotation competition. "They know what's going on here, and they know the fifth starter is going down [to the Minors]. But someone is going to have to come back up. They know what's going on. But Aquino's presentation has been good. There were some things we didn't really know about him that we found out this spring."