Twins 7 Blue Jays 5
Jeff Hoffman came in for the ninth with a one run lead and was just terrible He gave up a home run to tie the game. Then a single (soft grounder between first and second). An uncontested steal put the go-ahead run at second. The next batter ground one hard down the third base line, Clement made a nice pick up and throw to first. A hit batter put a second runner on (Hoffman was all over the place; we used to use the term effectively wild, Hoffman was ineffectively wild). A fastball
grooved to Matt Wallner, and we were down by three.
George Springer had a day, again. Four hits, two home runs, three runs scored.
Beyond that, I want to say that Brendon Little is an adventure. You know you are going to get walks, wild pitches, strikeouts. You just don’t know if you will get enough of the strikeouts to get out of an inning.Today 1.2 innings (he should never pitch more than an inning. One hit, one walk, one hit batter, one strikeout, one passed ball, one would have been a wild pitch but Kirk and Clement turned it into an out at third (barely, it was challenged, and we saw the replay a dozen times, and I have no idea if he was out or safe). He does get guys to chase a lot, but I don’t think that’s worth the anxiety that he puts us through.
On offense, we got:
- Two in the first: Springer singled, Nathan Lukes doubled. Vladimir Guerrero hit a sac fly and Bo Bichette singled.
- One in the second: Springer homered.
- One in the fifth: Springer homered.
We had chances to score more, but well, you know.
Chris Bassitt was very good through five innings. the sixth was an adventure. The sixth started out with a single and a home run. Then two strikeouts and a walk, and he was done. I’m old, so I have trouble calling a 5.2 inning start a good start, but it is 2025, and we don’t expect much more.
Louis Varland finished out the sixth. But he started the seventh with a hit and a walk, and that was it for him.
That’s when Little came in. He gave up a single to score one. Then he got a fly ball that Addison Barger made an impressive diving catch, and better yet, threw the ball into the infield and doubled the runner off second (the runner on third scored).
Little had all sorts of adventures in the eighth, ended up getting two outs (with Kirk’s help) (Little’s strikeout of James Outman was impressive). Seranthony Dominguez got the last out of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Springer had a two out single. Daulton Varsho (pinch hitting) doubled (almost thrown out at second…no reason for him to try to get to second), with Springer scoring. Vlad was up as the tying run. He had an eight pitch at bat, but hit a fly to medium right. We really needed a big hit.
Jays of the Day: Little got the number (.162 WPA), Bassitt (.127), Springer (.150), Lukes (.104) and Kirk (.093).
Other Award: Hoffman (-.805) and Verland (-.124), Vlad (-.115, mostly for the out in the ninth) and Gimenez (-.092)
That was just awful. Giving up the tying run in the ninth, I could have lived with. Giving up four in the ninth was just unbelievable.
Tomorrow it is Eric Lauer (8-2, 2.76) vs……someone. Eric really needs to go nine innings. Sorry Eric, but that’s your job tomorrow.
