Blue Jays 1 Rays 5
That was a very frustrating game. The Jays had ten hits, but just one extra base hit, a double by Yohendrick Piñango. It is hard to have 10 hits and only get one run. You really have to work at it.
And, the Rays scored three in the first. Eric Lauer showed us how much he hated the idea of the opener by showing why we should have an opener for his starts. The first three batters went single, walk, home run. And, really, the Rays could have stopped there.
After that Lauer was ok. He
was still giving up hard hit balls, but they found gloves. He went 54.1, with 5 hits, 3 earned, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
Spencer Miles finished off the fifth very nicely. But in the sixth, he went ground out, single, strikeout, single, single. He came out of the game for
Mason Fluharty, who gave up a two run single and that was pretty much the game.
Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply pitched a scoreless inning each.
On offense…there were a lot of singles. Nine singles and the one double. Piñango had three hits. No one else had more than one. Daulton Varsho had the 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Vlad had the only RBI driving home Piñango (who is hitting .500 at the moment, I don’t know how you send him down when Nathan Lukes or Addison Barger come back from the IL).
Ten hits, but one for eight with RISP.
I always hate excuses for not hitting with RISP but I suppose they could be pressing. But these guys went to the World Series last year, they should know how to drive in a run, now and then.
Defensively, they were fine, other than Ernie Clement who had a tough time. I thought he made two errors, but I see the Official Scorer disagrees. I tell you, make me official scorer and I’ll have fielding averages back to where they were in the 1930s. I know it is an old man rant, but when a guy throws wide of first by 10 feet from 30 feet away, THAT’S AN ERROR. And when the same guy goes 15 feet to his left to get a ball and then has it go off his glove, THAT’S AN ERROR. Call them errors.
The Jays are now 16-19. Last year, after 35 games, they were 16-19. So all is not lost. But ‘all’ might be behind the couch, and maybe they better look their soon.
No Jay of the Day today. Vlad had the high mark with a .03 WPA. Let’s give honorable mention to Piñango for the three hits and the only extra base hit.
Other Award: Lauer (-.12, sorry Eric, you are going to see an opener next time around), Varsho (-.09 for his 0 for 4, 3 k), Gimenez (-.08, 0 for 4), Clement (-0.7, plus the two errors), and Fluharty (-.08).
Cinco de Mayo tomorrow. We have Kevin Gausman (2=2, 3.10) vs. Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 2.64). Another 6:40 start time. They need time to all their fans into the park.
