Blue Jays 9 Orioles 8
Jays are 4.5 games up on the Yankees, at the moment. I’ll take it.
Where to start?
Maybe the bottom of the first. After a Jackson Holliday single and a pop-out, an Ernie Clement throwing error made life tough for José Berríos. If it weren’t for the mistake, the fly ball that followed would have been the third out; instead, it was a sac fly. After that, a Ryan O’Hearn home run. 3 runs, all unearned. Clemen’s defense has been so good, too bad Berrios couldn’t pick him up there. However,
it was a glimpse of things to come.
Then, in the top of the second, Addison Barger led off with a walk and two outs later, Myles Straw, of all people, hit a home run. 3-2 O’s.
No more scoring until the top of the fifth when Ali Sánchez started it of with a single. After a hard line out by Joey Loperfido, Clement doubled, giving us runners on second and third. Vladimir Guerrero singled one home. Terrible off-balance swing, on a pitch below the zone, but it worked. After that, Bo hit a fly to medium left. Colton Cowser came in on the ball and made a nice throw home. Clement was called safe, but it was overturned on an Orioles’ challenge. I thought they got the call right on the challenge. 3-3.
But the Orioles got two more in the fifth on a Jordan Westburg home run. Berrios looked to be tiring. That was his last pitch of the game. 5-3 O’s. Brendon Little got the last two outs. Berrios went 4.1, 6 hits, 5 runs, 2 earned, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts. Not a good day, but the error cost him.
Top of the sixth: Davis Schneider took a one-out walk. After pinch-hitter Leo Jiménez flied out (I just wanted to type Leo Jiménez pinch-hitter, when will I ever get to do that again?), Straw doubled in Davis. Next, Sanchez hit one over the center field wall. Unfortunately, Cedric Mullins went over the wall, too and made a great catch. Sanchez doesn’t have a major league home run, making it even sadder. 5-4 O’s.
We finally got our big inning in the top of the seventh. Joey Loperfido started it off with a single, and Clement followed with another single. Vlad, again with a poor swing, ground out to short, moving up the runners. Then Bo brought home both runners with a single. 6-5 Jays. Barger was hit by pitch (we’ve had a lot of guys hit by pitch this series). An out later, Nathan Lukes, pinch-hitting, homered. His last three hits have been home runs (over his last six games). 9-4 Jays.
One would think we had this one in the bag. Yariel Rodríguez came in for the bottom of the seventh. He got a pop-up and then gave up three singles. A ground ball that Schneider at second dived for, but it came out of his glove. It could have been an error (would have been the case in the old days), but it was called a hit. A pop fly that landed in front of Straw in center. 72.1 mph. Gunner Henderson singled to right (81.6 mph). Then Adley Rutschman grounded one straight at Clement at first base, but he let it through his legs. It should have been an inning-ending double play. Two errors by Clement in the game. Both are very costly. Clement hasn’t played much first base, but this was just a ground ball right at him; it wasn’t like it was some play that you only see at first base. 9-7 Jays. A pair of walks and 9-8 Jays. Rodriguez out, Braydon Fisher in, and a pair of strikeouts end the inning.
We got two on in the eighth, but Bo hit into a 3-6-3 double play. Man, he is slow. How he can play shortstop with his foot speed is a question to me.
New Jays’ reliever, Seranthony Dominguez, pitched a great eighth, two strikeouts.
We did nothing in the top of the ninth.
Jeff Hoffman had a nice 3-up, 3-down ninth. Save #25.
We had 13 hits. Loperfido and Straw had 3 each. Clement and Vlad had 2. Barger (0 for 3, walk, hit batter) and Schneider (0 for 4, walk) had the 0 fors.
Jays of the Day: Fisher (.310 WPA), Straw (.265, 3 for 4, 3 RBI), Nathan Lukes (.236, 1 for 2, home runs, 3 RBI), Hoffman (.194), Dominguez (.138), and Vlad (.135, 2 for 4, walk, 1 RBI).
Clement had the number, but those errors hurt a lot.
Other Award: Rodriguez (-.492, though most of that is because of Clement’s error), and Berrios (-.349, though much of that is because of Clement’s other error)
Tomorrow is an off-day, YAY.
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