DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Vince Velasquez needs to be more than a guy that pumps fastballs by everybody, if he expects to be the Phillies' No. 5 starter this season.

He knows this.

“It’s the art of pitching,” he said in regard to a 9-0 loss to the Blue Jays in a Grapefruit League game at TD Ballpark on Sunday. “That’s what I’m starting to understand and critique and put those things into play.”

Velasquez struggled on Sunday. He allowed two hits, three runs, three walks, two home runs and hit one batter in 2 2/3 innings. He also struck out three. After showing some encouraging signs in his first two spring starts, throwing more strikes, pitching more efficiently and working more effectively down in the strike zone, he threw 63 pitches to 14 batters. He threw only 30 strikes.

“It just seemed that today was kind of rushed, things were a little bit more fast-paced,” he said. “Normally, I do a good job. Since Spring Training [started], I felt like I controlled the momentum of the game, but today was a little bit more rushed. I don't think I was antsy, but I was kind of excited to go out there. Sometimes you have to learn how to slow the game down, take a step off and I was just going -- get on the mound, get the ball, and let’s go. Trying to make those adjustments quickly, instead of smartly.”

It is unclear exactly how the Phillies view the competition for the No. 5 starter role. Opening Day is 18 days away. Right-hander Nick Pivetta might have entered camp as a slight favorite over Velasquez, with Ranger Suárez behind both. Pivetta has an 8.22 ERA in 7 2/3 innings in three spring starts, allowing 10 hits, seven runs, four walks and striking out 10. Suárez has a 2.25 ERA in eight innings over three starts, allowing 10 hits, three runs, one walk and striking out eight.

Velasquez, meanwhile, has a 4.70 ERA in 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs, five walks and striking out six in three appearances (two starts).

“They’ve all had starts that weren’t so great,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It will still continue. Obviously, I think we’ll start meeting a lot more to talk about things, try to iron this out. What do we have, two and a half weeks left? We’ve got to make it pretty quick.”

Suárez has faced the least impressive competition of the three. Baseball Reference has a spring statistic that measures the quality of the opposing batter faced. Each opposing hitter is assigned a value between one and 10, based on the level they played last season. A big leaguer is a 10. Triple-A is an eight. Double-A is a seven. High A is a five. It descends from there.

Suarez’s average score is a 6.4, meaning most of the batters he's faced this spring were between Class A Advanced and Double-A last season. Pivetta’s is 8.0. Velasquez started the afternoon at 8.5. Everybody he faced Sunday appeared in the big leagues last season. That number will increase.

Regardless of the competition, Velasquez needs to throw more strikes than he threw against the Blue Jays.

“You have to learn how to critique your ways and find routines that will get you back into the zone,” he said. “You’re not going to have the best outing every time, so you have to learn how to make those adjustments. That is a mid-game adjustment that I’m still figuring out. Now I have to write that down in my mind. Curveball, first-pitch command for a strike. Slider, first pitch for a strike.

"If I can develop that and improve that every time, every outing, it just makes my pitching -- my whole arsenal -- that much better. Now I can start mixing pitches left and right. Backwards pitching. Changeup, curveball, slider, fastball, boom. You mess with it. But if you develop that feel and have that confidence in those secondary pitches, it just protects your fastball.”