Saunders Rehab in Clearwater

Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Michael Saunders (left knee) takes batting practice Thursday afternoon in preparation for his first rehab game with Class-A Dunedin against Clearwater in Clearwater. Saunders tore his left meniscus on February 25th when he stepped on a sprinkler head shagging balls at the team’s Mattick Complex Field One. He is scheduled to DH on Thursday and play in the field on Friday when the same two teams play in Dunedin. (EDDIE MICHELS PHOTO)

Clearwater, Fla.– Appearing in his first game as a member of the Blue Jays, Michael Saunders started at DH for the Dunedin Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Saunders appears to be recovering well from a left meniscus tear suffered when he stepped on a sprinkler head at the Blue Jays Mattick Complex in Dunedin on February 25, 2015.

He made four plate appearances, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The scariest and yet most exciting part of his night was after he walked in the fourth inning. With nobody out and runners on first and second, Blue Jays first baseman Matthew Dean hit a solid grounder to third. Clearwater Threshers third baseman Mitchell Walding stepped on the bag and proceeded to start what many baseball fans long to see…a Triple Play.

That was the exciting part.

The scary part was watching Michael Saunders slide into second trying to break up the attempt. He did not appear to aggravate the knee, however, he did not look great in his next at-bat, leading to the strikeout.

In his final plate appearance, leading off the ninth inning, Saunders grounded out to third. He had no trouble getting down the line as it was a bang-bang play at first.

The plan with Saunders is to have him play the outfield tomorrow for Dunedin. That game will be played at the Blue Jays home, Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

Dunedin (1-0) 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 5 7 2 Clearwater (0-1) 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 7 0