Blue Jays 4 Yankees 3
Well, that will get your blood pressure up.
Bottom of the ninth, Jays up by one. Louis Varland in. Jazz Chisholm Jr. leads off with a double to the wall in center. But he strikes out Austin Wells (with Wells using the Yankees’ last challenge on the strike three pitch). A ground out got us two out (very nice pickup by Vlad on a short hop), but Chisholm went to third in there. But Louis got Trent Grisham to strikeout to end the game. Amazing job, Varland.
We got yet another great
start from Dylan Cease. He had a no-hitter going until two outs in the seventh inning. But a walk and two singles scored a run and ended his day. He had five walks and 8 strikeouts. More walks than you’d like, but a terrific outing. Sportsnet says Cease had a 42 inning shutout streak on the road.
Spencer Miles got the last out of the seventh.
Tyler Rogers didn’t have a good eighth inning, giving up his first home run of the season, a two run shot, making it a one run game.
Offensively? Well, we had a lot of hits. 15. You would think you would get more than 4 runs off 15 hits.
George Springer had 3. Brett Bateman, Vlad Guerrero, Ernie Clement, and Nathan Lukes (after coming into the game late as a pinch hitter) had two each.
We scored:
- One in the first: Bateman singled to start the game. Vlad hit into a force, replacing him at first. Kirk singled. And Springer singled, with Vlad scoring. I thought it was going to be a close play at the plate, but the Yankees’ left fielder Heliot Ramos showed a terrible arm. Unfortunately, that’s where it ended, Okamoto (strikeout) and Clement (ground out) ended the inning.
- One in the fourth: Okamoto led off with a double. Clement singled him to third (on a bunt single). After a Daz Cameron strikeout, Charles McAdoo singled home Oka. But again, that is were it ended. Straw popped out, Bateman walked and Vlad ground out.
- One in the fifth: Kirk led off with a walk. Springer singled. Two outs later, Nathan Lukes singled home Kirk.
- One in the eighth: Lukes started the inning with a home run. Later Myles Straw would walk and Vlad singled, but we couldn’t score more than a run in any inning.
We had two on and no outs in the third inning, but a Kirk double play and a Springer ground out ended that.
In the sixth, Straw led off with a double. Bateman bunted him to third (I hated that bunt, we were up 3-0, try to run up the score), Vlad popped up (terrific catch by Jazz Chisholm chasing it out to right field) and Kirk ground out.
In the seventh, Springer started it with a single. But Okamoto popped out and they tried a hit and run with Clement up. Unfortunately, Ernie lined it into the right fielder’s glove. There was no chance for Springer to come back.
The second inning was the only inning we didn’t get a base runner.
Jays of the Day: Cease (0.23 WPA), Varland (0.20), Lukes (0.12) and Springer (0.10). Let’s give one to Miles for the 2 pitches he used to get out of the seventh.
No one got the ‘Other Award’, Rogers and Cameron had the low marks at -0.08.
Tomorrow we have a 1:30 start time. José Soriano (1-0, 2.76 for the Jays in 3 starts) vs. Carlos Rodón (4-2, 3.22 in 10 starts).
Let’s win the series.
And enjoy your evening. My evening is going to be spent barbecuing steaks and pouring drinks. I told my wife about your well wishes.
