Jays 7 Marlins 6
You wonder if Berrios has been listening to the local baseball media, who have all but buried any chance that he’ll have much of a role in the Jays post-season. Whether it was that, a weak Marlins lineup or a mix of the two. Berrios went out and dealt one of his most effective and efficient starts of the season. Unfortunately, the Jays bullpen was not up to the task today, allowing the Marlins to tie and force extras, only finally putting them away in the bottom of the 12th.
It started
as a pitchers dual, with Berrios and Junk trading zeros. In the third, the Jays had the opportunity to do damage, after a Lukes double that missed clearing the fence by inches. He advanced on a ground out and Gimenez followed up being hit by a pitch by stealing second. Springer hit a single to right that should have scored two, but Gimenez held up for too long to take the extra base. Barger then hit into a double play. The fourth was more of the same. Singles by Bichette and Varsho put men at the corners with one out, but France grounded into a double play to end the inning.
In the sixth, the Jays finally got to Junk, after a great sliding catch robbed Springer of a hit, Barger walked, Bichette singled up the middle, Kirk hit a deep double to score a run and put men at second and third with one out. A Varsho strike-out made it worrisome, but the Marlins pulled Junk for Gibson who intentionally walk France to load the bases and then walked Straw to bring in a run before getting Clement to ground out. Springer added a solo shot to put the Jays up by four leading to the bottom of the seventh. It also featured Kirk beating out a throw to first on a swinging bunt, proving yet again that speed doesn’t slump
Berrios went into the seventh with a low pitch count and promptly got an out on a fantastic defensive play by Gimenez. However, he gave up three straight singles for the Marlins first run and was out of the game. Varland wasn’t effective, giving up a double and being bailed out by a very close play at the plate to limit the damage to a run. He walked the next batter before old friend Otto Lopez cashed in another run with a single up the middle. Dominguez came in for the eighth and despite command issues, struck out two and got a grounder to get to the ninth.
The Jays stranded a Springer double in the top of the inning, sending Jeff Hoffman out looking for the save in the bottom of the inning. He didn’t pitch terribly, but a lead off walk, steal and then a single was enough to tie the game up.
Extra innings went as follows:
- 10th – Jays scored the Manfred Man around a walk, a groundout, and a sacrifice fly that was deep and yet got in quick enough to threaten Bo. His speed has deserted him this series. Marlins tied it of Fluharty in the bottom of the inning before being shutdown by Nance.
- 11th – Clement advances Straw to third and he comes in on a single by Gimenez before Springer grounded into a double play. The Marlins got the run back on a pair of singles before a pop-up on a botched bunt attempt and a double play got the Jays out of the inning.
- 12th – Barger advanced Springer to third on a groundout and he came home on a Bichette single. Little came in for the Jays and closed it out, getting the Manfred Man with a quick feed from Bichette on a ground ball to Gimenez to get him trying to get back to second, and then a long flyball to centre and a groundball to end the game.
Berrios was terrific. His line of 6.1 innings, 2ER, 4H and 8Ks doesn’t capture the fact that his sinker and slurve kept the Marlins off balance the whole time, inducing some awful, awkward swings and letting him cruise through the lineup. He had three innings with less than ten pitches thrown and at 81 pitches, despite the three straight singles, you wonder if maybe the Jays should have left him in.
Jay of the Day: Little has the number at (.450) for holding the number and Kirk lead the offense with (.267), but Berrios, despite not getting the win, had the most effective pitching performance at (.223)
The Other Award. Fluharty (-.261) and Hoffman (-.294) but I’m inclined to lump Varland in there as well.
The Jays will face the Marlins on the final game of the series looking for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1:40EST. Kevin Gausman (8-9, 3.78) will face Eury Perez (5-3, 3.48) to finish off the road trip.
