Game #77 - Toronto Blue Jays (38-39) @ Chicago Cubs (40-37) - game recap

 

Kazuma Okamoto hit a 3-run HR to lift the Blue Jays to an 8-6 comeback win over the Cubs

After a blowout loss thanks to a brutal day for the pitchers and only George Springer doing anything offensively, the Blue Jays were looking to even the series and avoid their 11th series loss and 8th season series loss of the season. Daulton Varsho was reinstated from the 10-day IL and Charles McAdoo was optioned to AAA-ball. Righty Lazaro Estrada was reinstated from the 60-day IL and lefty Brendon Little was optioned back to AAA-ball. Patrick Corbin got the start with Brandon Valenzuela behind the plate. Myles Straw was in LF, Varsho was in CF and Nathan Lukes was in RF. Could the Blue Jays even the series and avoid their 11th series loss and 8th season series loss of the season? Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:

• The Cubs opened the scoring in unge bottom of the 2nd as Matt Shaw whacked a 3-run blast to left; also scoring Alex Bregman and Ian Happ
• Patrick Corbin pitching line: 3.2IP 6H 3R (all earned) 3BB 4K 101 pitches (57 for strikes)
• Colin Rea pitching line: 5.1IP 3H 0R 0BB 3K 78 pitches (50 for strikes)
• The Cubs added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th as Pete Crow- Armstrong belted a 2-run jack to right; also scoring Dansby Swanson
• The Blue jays got 3 back in the top of the 7th as Daulton Varsho hammered a 3-run bomb to right; also scoring Vladimir Gurrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto
• The Blue jays got one back in the top of the 8th as Alejandro Kirk singled scoring Myles Straw 
• A batter later, Guerrero Jr. singled home Springer
• Two batters later, Okamoto smacked a 3-run blast to left; also scoring Guerrero Jr and Yohendrick Pinago 
• Louis Varland got the last 6 outs for his 15th save of the season
• Final score: Blue Jays 8 Cubs 6
• The Cubs got one back in the button half of the inning on a fielder's choice hit by Nico Hoerner that scored Miguel Amaya
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My Take:

• Patrick Corbin battled through 3.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. Not a real efficient start for Corbin as he needed 101 pitches to get 11 outs. With Shane Bieber set to return to the rotation, it is likely his last start in a Blue Jays uniform. 
• The bullpen gave up 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 4 and striking out 3 over the last 5.1 innings. Louis Varland did a great job in getting the last 6 outs and limiting the damage to one run when Mason Fluharty left him with a bases loaded nobody out mess in the 8th where the Cubs could have taken the lead right back with one swing.. His only blemish was an error on a rushed throw in the 9th.
• The offense came to life in a big way in the 7th and 8th inning, scoring 8 runs on 6 hits and a hit batter. Daulton Varsho got things started with a rocket to right for 3 runs and Japanese rookie Kazuma Okamoto also went deep for 3 runs to give the Blue Jays the lead. In between, Vlad and Alejandro Kirk had clutch RBI base hits.
• Every Blue Jays starter except Davis Schneider and Nathan Lukes had a  hit
• The Cubs were 5-1 on ABS challenges and Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya successfully overturned an impressive 4 ABS challenges. Brandon Valenzuela was unsuccessul on the Blue Jays only ABS challenge on the day.
• The Blue Jays were 4-7 with runners in scoring position
• Up next, weather permitting, the Blue Jays go for 2 straight wins and to notch their 11th series win and 4th season series win of the season. Dylan Cease starts against Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga

Game # 77 Blue Jays (37-39) @ Cubs (40-36)

                                        Game #77 Blue Jays (37-39) @ Cubs (40-36)

Let's see if we can do a little better today...I mean, it can't be worse....right?

Game #76 - Toronto Blue Jays (37-39) @ Chicago Cubs (40-36) - game recap

 

George Springer drove in a pair of runs, including himself on a solo HR, in a 16-2 rout loss to the Cubs

After completing the sweep yesterday thanks to a phenomenol start by Trey Yesavage and a clutch base hit from Brandon Valenzuela, the Blue Jays continued the road trip at Wrigley Field. The Blue Jays took the season series last year, outscoring the Cubs 8-6. Lefty Brendon Little was recalled from AAA-ball and righty Chad Dallas was optioned to AAA-ball. Ace Kevin Gausman got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Davis Schneider got the start at 2B. Could the Blue Jays extend the win streak to 4 games? Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:

• The Cubs opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st as Seiya Suzuki doubled scoring Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman
• Four batters later, Carson Kelly hammered a grand slam to left-center; also scoring Suzuki, Ian Happ and Matt Shaw
• Three batters later, Bregman singled scoring Dansby Swanson
• Kevin Gausman pitching line: 2IP 7H 7R 4BB 3K 68 pitches (35 for strikes)
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 3rd as George Springer singled scoring Andres Gimenez
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 6th as Springer whacked a solo blast to left
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was removed from the game prior to the bottom half of the inning after hurting his back striking out swinging to end the top of the 6th.
• The Cubs added a run in the bottom half of the inning on a bases loaded walk to Kelly forced in Suzuki
• A batter later, a bases loaded walk to Swanson forced in Happ
• A batter after that, Crow-Armstrong singled scoring Nico Hoerner
• A batter later, Kelly scored on a fielder's choice hit by Bregman
• The Cubs added a  run in the bottom of the 7th as Kelly singled scoring Happ
• Two batters later, Justin Dean tripled scoring Shaw, Kelly and Swanson
• Final score: Cubs 16 Blue Jays 2

My Take:

• Kevin Gausman was lit up for 7 runs on 7 hits while walking 4 and striking out 3 over 2 innings. It was clear from the get-go that Gausman had absolutely nothing working on this day. Notoriously, the balls are difficult to work with in Chicago, but both teams are using the same balls. There's a good chance that the Blue Jays will attempt to move Gausman at the deadline if they are out of the playoff race in July since he is on an expiring contract. However, rough starts like this one won't help his trade value. He has certainly regressed in performance this season with age likely being a factor.
• The bullpen gave up 9 runs on 11 hits while walking 7 and striking out 1 over the last 6 innings. It might have been a mistake to recall Brendon Little, who coughed up 4 runs on 2 hits while walking 3 and strikinng out 1 over an inning. His ERA, already high upon his demotion, actually went up a couple of ticks to an even 27.00. Why was Tyler Rogers pitching in a blowout deficit? Why didn't Spencer Miler go a bit longer? It hasn't been that long since he was basically in the rotation and built up to be able to throw 80 pitches. It looks like Spencer Myles is the designated position player to pitch in blowouts. Tyler Heineman, traded to the Angels, filled the role previously
• The offense still can't get any consistency. After a good series in Boston, the bats were ice cold today with George Springer driving in both runs, including going deep in the 6th inning.
• The Blue Jays were 3-1 on ABS challenges and Cubs catcher Carson Kelly was 1-1 on ABS challenges
• The Blue Jays were 1-4 with runners in scoring position
• Up next, the Blue Jays try to even the series and avoid their 12th series loss and 8th season series loss of the season. Patrick Corbin start against Cubs righty Colin Rea

Game Seventy-Six

Game #75 - Toronto Blue Jays (37-38) @ Boston Red Sox (29-43) - game recap

After pulling out another win thanks to some nice work from the bullpen on yet another bullpen day with max Scherzer heading right back on the IL with a sore back and a nice offensive effort from Andres Gimenez, who factored in all three runs scored yesterday, scoring twice and driving in the other rub, the Blue Jays were looking to extend the win streak to 3 games and complete their 2nd sweep of the season. Trey Yesavage got the start with Brandon Valenzuela behind the plate. Yohendrick Pinago was in LF, Nathan Lukes was in CF and Jesus Sanchez was in RF. Could the Blue Jays make it three straight wins and complete their second sweep of the season? Here is today's game recap. 

Game Highlights:

• The Blue jays opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Vladimir Gurrero Jr hammered a solo bomb to dead center and over the green monster
• The Blue jays added a run in the top of the 2nd on s sac fly by Andres Gimenez that scored Kazuma Okamoto 
• The Blue jays added a run in the top of the 7th as Nathan Lukes whacked a solo blast to right- center and into the Red Sox bullpen
• The Red Sox got one back in the button half of the inning on a ground out hit by Willson Contreras that scored Ceddanne Rafaela
• Sonny Gray pitching line: 7IP 6H 3R (all earned) 1BB 4K 89 pitches (63 for strikes)
• The Red Sox got one back in the bottom of the 8th as Isiah Kiner-Falefa smacked a solo blast over the green monster in left
• A batter later, Caleb Durbin belted a solo jack over the green monster in left-center 
• Trey Yesavage pitching line: 7.1IP 4H 3R (all earned) 0BB 6K 95 pitches (66 for strikes)
• The Blue jays retook the lead in the top of the 9th as Brandon Valenzuela doubled scoring Ernie Clement 
• Mason Fluharty pitched a perfect 9th for his 1st save of the season 
• Final score: Blue Jays 4 Red Sox 3

My Take:

• Trey Yesavage was excellent today, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits while walking none and striking out 6 over 7.1 innings. He retired 21 of the first 23 batters he faced. Yesavage also reached a milestone, pitching into the 8th inning for the first time in his career. This deep effort was badly needed by a bullpen that has been asked to get all 27 outs once every 5 days and for a couple of weeks 2 times in 5 days. 
• The bullpen threw 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up 1 hit, walking none and striking out none. Tommy Nance was credited with the win and Mason Fluharty notched his first save of the season. 
• A rare thing happened today. Vlad went deep for just the 3rd time this season.  It's so perplexing why Vlad is having such difficulty getting airtime with his swings. He's got a pretty good mentor,; his father Vladimir Gurrero Sr. who went deep 449 times in his illustrious career. Evidently, he doesn't really communicate with the hitting coaches on the team. Perhaps Ross Atkins needs to look into that and revamp the hitting coaches in the off-season and maybe consider someone who might be able to work with Vlad. Brandon Valenzuela continues to impress, knocking in the game winning run with a clutch hit in the 9th inning. 
• The Blue Jays were 2-2 on ABS challenges. The Red Sox did not attempt an ABS challenge today
• The Blue Jays were 1-4 with runners in scoring position
• Up next, the Blue Jays head to Wrigley field in Chicago. The Blue jays won the season series last year, outscoring the Cubs 8-6. Ace Kevin Gausman starts for the Blue Jays. The Cubs haven't set their rotation for the series yet.