Losing stinks, but realistically taking three of four on the road in Detroit with Max Scherzer looking vintage in the game you lose is a pretty strong outcome. Three runs over seven doesn’t sound excellent, but three total hits against 11 K’s tells the fuller story. Outside one brief wobble the Tigers couldn’t lay a finer on him. Unfortunately, on a day when the offence couldn’t lay a finger on anyone he takes the L.
The bottom guys in the bullpen melted down in the eighth to make this look a lot
worse than it really was. Chad Green has had a great career, but it’s time for him to ride off into the sunset. Justin Bruihl has... also played major league baseball, and can go with him. If the front office had any concerns about who should be bumped for this week’s inevitable trade additions, I think two guys just put their hands up.
On the other hand, the offence showed up 26 outs late, breaking the shutout and making it look better than at it really was. Still, the plane ride to Baltimore will probably be a little more relaxed than it would have been if the shutout had held.
The offence, apart from Bo Bichette, couldn’t do much of anything with Jack Flaherty today. Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Bo lined back to back singles in the first, and George Springer added another single in the third. Bo got his second hit in the fourth and his third in the sixth, while Alan Roden chipped in a walk in the fifth. None of them came close to scoring, though. He punched out seven Jays while surrendering just five hits and a walk, all scattered.
Meanwhile, Max Scherzer was mostly excellent. He allowed just three hits through seven innings while striking out 11 and without walking a batter. Unfortunately, those three all clustered in the third inning. Dillon Dingler lead off with a single and Parker Meadows followed with a double. Scherzer rallied to get the next two Tigers, but then he left a fastball over the heart of the plate that Gleyber Torres deposited into the right field bleachers, putting Detroit out front 3-0.
Tyler Holton took the reins from Flaherty in the seventh. With one out, Tyler Heineman doubled and Davis Schneider walked to give the Jays their best chance since the first. Holton got Nathan Lukes to ground out and was lifted for Brenan Hanifee. George Springer tagged the first pitch he saw, but Parker Meadows was able to run it down in front of the 412 sign in centre for the third out.
Bichette doubled in the eighth for his fourth knock of the day. Unfortunately the rest of the team could do nothing with it.
Chad Green did as he does in the eighth and gave up a couple of runs. Meadows signled, Javy Baez doubled, and Gleyber Torres brought Baez home to make it 5-0 Detroit. That prompted John Schneider to go to Justin Bruihl to get the last out of the inning. He struggled as much as Greene, giving up three straight singles to extend Detroit’s lead to seven. He then walked the next batter and gave up a line single that Davis Schneider comitted a brutal error on to clear the bases and extend the lead into double digits.
Myles Straw drew a walk of Luke Jackson in the ninth to spark a dead cat bounce rally. He took second on defensive indifference and third on a Heineman fly out, then scored on a George Springer single. At least that broke up the shutout. Meanwhile, Lukes added his own walk and Guerrero did the same to load the bases. Bo’s fifth hit was a liner into right that plated two, cutting the deficit to 10-3. Following a pitching change, Addison Barger doubled into the right field corner to cut the deficit to six. That was where it ended up.
Jays of the Day: Bo Bichette (0.117) accounted for five of the team’s nine total bases.
Not so much: Scherzer technically qualifies, but I am absolutely not giving the bad award to a guy who K’d eleven against three base runners. Green and Bruihl do not, but giving up a 7 run inning gets you tagged whether it affected the outcome or not. On offence, Lukes (-0.115) and Barger (-0.136) take the hit for what was really a collective dud.
It’s off to Baltimore tomorrow for a four game set in what promises to be even more miserable weather than we’ve seen in Detroit, with the humidex forecast to touch 50 degrees. I will be comfortably in Calgary, where the humidex is not a thing, watching Chris Bassitt (11-4, 3.88) take on Zach Eflin (6-5, 5.78) on my TV. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm ET.
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- Blue Jays mid-term report card: Grade Teoscar Hernandez’ first half
- One bad inning costs the Blue Jays
- Around The Nest - Blue Jays Minor League Podcast - Week 14
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