Clement

FORTMYERS, Fla. — Matt Clement's hopes of earning a spot on the Toronto Blue Jays' roster took a serious hit Sunday during an 11-6 Grapefruit League loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Clement, 34, a Butler native trying to grab a place in Toronto's starting rotation, was touched for eight runs in the fifth inning of Sunday's game.

Pulled with one out in the inning, Clement allowed eight earned runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking seven.

He threw 94 pitches, 48 for strikes, and saw his earned run average balloon to 9.58. Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer off Clement in that fifth frame.

After the game, Toronto manager Cito Gaston would not guarantee another Grapefruit League start for Clement.

"We're starting to get where we need to get innings for guys that are going to make this ballclub,"Gaston said in an article on the Blue Jays' Website.

The 94 pitches were the most Clement has thrown in a game in three years. He is trying to get back to the major leagues for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2006.

Clement hasn't pitched in the majors since June 2006, when he was with the Boston Red Sox. Signed by St. Louis in 2008, he pitched in the Cardinals' farm system last year before being released in August.

Clement has five strikeouts and 12 walks in 10Z\c innings this spring. He's allowed nine hits.

If Clement doesn't get another start, he likely will be sent to Las Vegas, the Blue Jays' Class AAAaffiliate. Clement is under contract with Toronto until late May.

The right-hander's only ways out of accepting an option to Las Vegas would be to retire or to ask the Blue Jays organization to grant him an unconditional release.

"My contract doesn't give me many options,"Clement said on the website. "I'm going to have to pray and think about if they don't keep me on this staff ... is my heart going to be into going there and pitching?

"I'm not going to sit here and try to state my case why I should be in that rotation at all. I think up until that (fifth) inning, I've stated it pretty well. I've showed that I'm healthy. It's just going to come down to what they do as an organization."