Jays 7 Rangers 2
Bullpen days seem dependent on how the ‘bulk guy’ does. Someone has to do more than a inning, they aren’t going to run 9 guys out there, doing an inning each. Long men tend to (how to put it politely?) not be the best arms. If they were good, they would be starters.
Today we got two guys that went more than an inning:
- Spencer Miles ‘opened’ and went three innings without giving up a run, with four strikeouts. They seem to have given up on the idea of managing his innings, and we won’t know if that is a bad idea until later, but he’s been terrific.
- Spencer Arrighetti threw 2.1 innings. He did give up a couple of runs (on a Jake Burger home run, Brett Bateman almost pulled it back into the park) but those things are going to happen. It was Burger’s 27th home run, so he’s hit them off a lot of pitchers.
After that it was short guys:
- Mason Fluharty gave up a hit and a walk, while just getting one out in the sixth.
- Paul Sewald got the last out of the sixth.
- José Rodríguez, pitching in his second MLB game, threw the seventh. He gave up a single and had a strikeout.
- Tyler Rogers got the eighth give up just a single in the eighth.
- Louis Varland pitched the ninth, even with the big lead. Course he hasn’t pitched in a few days, might as well use him.
Offensively, we got everyone involved. We scored:
- One in the first: Brett Bateman started the game with a walk. Vladimir Guerrero singled him to third. Nathan Lukes brought him home on a sac fly.
- One in the third: Lukes had a one out single. An out later, Sean Keys doubled him home.
- One in the fifth: Bateman again started the inning with a walk. Myles Straw singled. Keys walked to load the bases.
- Four in the seventh: Bateman started this one with a double. Straw walked. Lukes singled in one (Lukes was asked to bunt, failed twice and then singles. Bunts are stupid). Charles McAdoo doubled in two more. Andrés Giménez singled in the seventh run (108.4 mph line drive).
The team had 11 hits. 10 different Jays hit, with Lukes being the only one with two hits.
It wasn’t all good news. Vlad came out of the game with back tightness (after getting a single).
And before the game, we were told that Dylan Cease is being shut down with a tired arm. They are saying it is possible that he could start at the end of the season, if he recovers quickly, but it seems unlikely that the last couple of games will mean anything.
Jays of the Day: Miles (0.16 WPA), Keys (0.14), Bateman (0.13) and Sewald (0.09).
Other Award: Arrighetti (-0.09) and Clement (-0.08).
Tomorrow the Jays start their last road series of the season vs the Orioles. Six games left. They still vaguely have a chance, but just seeing some good ball before the long cold lonely winter (as George Harrison said).
