Game #152 Toronto Blue Jays (61-91) @ Baltimore Orioles (49-103) - game recap

Randal Grichuk hit a grand slam in an epic come from behind 11-10 victory over the hapless Orioles

After a convincing come from behind win last night that moved the Blue Jays within striking distance of 63 wins and avoiding 100 losses, the Blue Jays were back at it and looking for the series win. Righty Clay Buchholz was on the hill. He has pitched pretty solid since returning from a serious grade 2 strain of his teres major muscle. Blue Jays batters had to contend with Dylan Bundy, who brought a career 4-3 record with a 3.24ERA in 13 games (9 of them starts) against the Blue Jays. Vlad got the half day off, serving as the DH tonight with Brandon Drury playing the hot corner. Derek Fisher got the start tonight in LF and Rowdy Tellez was back at 1st base. Both players have been in the doghouse recently due to poor play. Prior to the game, the Blue Jays worst fears were realized. Tim Mayza had the surgery to repair his UCL. He also had his ulnar tendon, that was torn right off the bone, repaired. Both tears were complete grade 3 tears. The outcome means Mayza will not only miss the remainder of this season, but the entirety of next season too. His aim will be spring training 2021. Could the Blue Jays make it 3 wins in a row? Here is tonight's game recap.

Game Highlights:

• The Orioles opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Rio Ruiz doubled home Anthony Santander
• A batter later, Austin Hays doubled home Ruiz
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 2nd as Bo Bichette singled scoring Rowdy Tellez
• The Orioles added 2 more runs in the bottom half of the inning as Trey Mancini doubled home DJ Stewart and Jonathan Villar
• The Orioles added a run in the bottom of the 4th as Villar hammered a solo bomb to right-center
• Two batters later, Santander smashed a 2-run blast to right-center, also scoring Mancini
• Clay Buchholz pitching line: 3.2IP 10H 7R (all earned) 0BB 4K 85 pitches (54 for strikes)
• Dylan Bundy pitching line: 5IP 5H 1R (earned) 5BB 8K 105 pitches (63 for strikes)
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top pf the 6th as Bichette singled home Tellez
• The Blue Jays got three back in the top of the 7th as Teoscar Hernandez drilled a 3-run bomb to dead center; also scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Reese McGuire
• The Orioles added a run in the bottom half of the inning as Hays scored on a sac fly by Stewart
• The Orioles added a run in the bottom of the 8th as Villar scored on a sac fly by Mancini
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 9th as Cavan Biggio singled home Tellez
• A batter later, Randal Grichuk completed the epic comeback with a grand slam to left also scoring Richard Urena, Billy McKinney and Biggio
• Two batters later, McGuire doubled home Jonathan Davis
• The Orioles got one back in the bottom of the 9th as Stewart doubled scoring Hanser Alberto
• Derek Law pitched the 9th for his 5th save of the season
• Final score: Blue Jays 11 Orioles 10

My Take:

• It's funny how baseball works sometimes. Orioles starter Dylan Bundy allowed just one run on five hits, but he walked 5 batters over 5 innings. Clay Buchholz did not walk a batter, but gave up 7 runs on 10 hits. The defense, and an unlikely source in Derek Fisher, saved Buchholez from further damage by leaping to rob Anthony Santander of a HR in the 1st inning.
• It was a tale of 2 games in one. It looked for half the game like the Orioles were going to take the second game of the series, but then the Orioles bullpen combined to allowed 10 runs on 10 hits, along with 4 walks, capped off by a go-ahead grand slam. Thank goodness the Blue Jays tacked on one more insurance run because Derek Law came in and very nearly blew the save, loading the bases before getting Stevie Wilkerson to pop out and Trey Mancini, who had been killing the Blue Jays all night, to bounce out to 2B.
• I guess Ken Giles was unavailable on back-to back nights. I can understand the Blue Jays caution given the elbow issues he's battled all year
• The Blue Jays got a couple of injury scares. First Vlad was forced to leave the game after sliding awkwardly into second base. It's unclear if that's where the injury occurred or if he did something after turning on the jets after trotting into 1st thinking he was going to be out. Expect the Blue Jays to be extra cautious with him. The other injury scare was to Reese McGuire, who had a deflected ball go off his sensitive area. A few pitches later, a second bounced ball almost nailed him. Danny Jansen was getting set to come into the game after the first pitch, but McGuire was able to continue.
• Bo Bichette (3-6, 2 RBI), Cavan Biggio (2-6, run scored, RBI), Grichuk (go-head grand slam), Reese McGuire (3-4, run scored, RBI, 2 walks), Teoscar Hernandez (3-run HR to get the Blue Jays within striking distance), and Rowdy Tellez (1-2, 3 runs scored, 3 walks) all had good days at the plate
• Up next, the Blue Jays go for the series sweep as Wilmer Font serves as the opener for Anthony Kay. The Orioles will counter with righty Gabriel Ynoa

no. 152: Blue Jays (60-91) at Baltimore (49-102)

Wednesday 18 September 2019 - 7:05 PM ET - Camden Yards
Clay Buchholz (RHP 1-5 5.63 ERA 25 SO) v. Dylan Bundy (RHP 6-14 4.99 ERA 148 SO)

Game #151 Toronto Blue Jays (60-91) @ Baltimore Orioles (49-102) - game recap

Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle, drove in 4 runs, scored three times and stole a pair of bases as the Blue Jays came from behind to defeat the Orioles 8-5

The Blue Jays kicked off their final road trip of the season in Baltimore. Both AL East teams are locked into 4th (Blue Jays) and 5th (Orioles) respectively in the division standings. The Blue Jays will need 4 wins in the final dozen games to avoid their 4th 100 loss season in franchise history. The Orioles would appear to be the easiest opponent left with a home and home set of 6 games left between the two squads. In between the series with the Orioles, the Blue Jays will be in NY to take on a Yankees team they just took 2 of 3 from last weekend in Toronto. The Blue Jays wrap up the season at home against the TB Rays, who they were swept by in 4 straight earlier this month in TB. Tonight, the Blue Jays opted to go with Ryan Tepera as the opener, with Trent Thornton expected to pitch the next several innings. Lourdes Gurriel was DH'ing for the 2nd time in 3 games as the Blue Jays ease him back to playing after missing more than a month with a quad strain. Justin Smoak started at 1B for the 3rd straight game after Rowdy Tellez was pulled from the game for not hustling to 1B last Friday.  Danny Jansen got the start behind the plate Could the Blue Jays reduce their magic number to avoid 100 losses to three wins? Here is tonight's game recap.

#151 - Toronto Blue Jays (59-91) @ LOLioles (49-101)

Tue, Sep 17 • 7:05 PM EDT

At Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Ryan Tepera (RHP 0-2, 15.2 IP, 5.17 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 12 K)

vs

Chandler Shepard (RHP 0-0, 7 IP, 3.86 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 5 K)

Ten weekly random thoughts: Week 24 -September 9-15

This week was full of highs (taking two of three from Boston and walking off the Yankees Friday) and lows (Tim Mayza injury). The week started with a huge come from behind win over the Red Sox, who had just been eliminated from AL East title contention. TJ Zeuch made his 1st career start, 2nd career appearance. It didn't start out great as his 1st pitch went over the wall for a HR. He settled down after that and gave up 2 more runs on 5 hits while walking three and striking out two. The young guns led the way with Cavan Biggio, Rowdy Tellez and Reese McGuire all smacking big HR over the wall. Biggio, Bo Bichette, and Vlad all made nice plays in the field as well. The next day, The Blue Jays got one of the best pitching performances of the year from Wilmer Font and three relievers. Trent Thornton threw 5 no-hit innings, walking just one batter and striking out 7. The Blue Jays bats provided plenty of run support scoring a combined 8 runs on 9 hits, including 2-run HR by Tellez and Teoscar Hernandez and a 2 run double by Randal Grichuk. The Red Sox took the season series finale Thursday, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after 4 innings they would not relinquish. The Blue Jays had an opportunity to tie and/or take the lead in the bottom of the 8th, but all they could manage was one tun on a bases loaded walk. Elvis Luciano was reinstated off the IL and Clayton Richard was released (more on both later. On Friday, the Blue Jays faced a more formidable opponent in the NY Yankees, who cam into this series with a two game lead for best record in the MLB and home field advantage through the World Series. Friday's game had one of the best moments of the season (huge comeback win) and one of the worst (Tim Mayza injury; more on that later). Anthony Kay got his second career start. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 4 innings, then the Yankees got to Zeuch and scored 5 runs on 5 hits and a fielder's choice (the last hit was allowed by reliever Jason Adam). The Blue Jays tied it in the 7th on a balk by Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino. The Mayza injury happened in the 10th and Bichette ended the game with a walk-off HR in the 12th. Obviously, the main concern after the game was for Mayza. On Saturday, Brett Gardner torched Blue Jays pitching, hitting a pair of home runs and a double and 5RBI. He even wounded Blue Jays reliever Jordan Romano with a come-backer off the leg. Romano had the fortitude to lob it to 2nd for the fielder's choice, but he came up limping and was eventually helped off the field by trainer Jose Minstral and Charlie Montoyo.. Luke Volt had 3 runs and 2 RBI as the Yankees battered Blue Jays pitching. James Paxton had a 1-hitter through 4 innings before the Blue Jays got to him a bit in the 5th and managed one run. In the series finale Sunday, The Blue Jays had their second come from behind win in 3 days against the best team in baseball, thanks to Randal Grichuk, who hit a huge 3-run HR in the 5th to give the Blue Jays a 3 run lead they would not relinquish. Zeuch earned his first career win by pitching 5.1 innings. The two teams meet in NY this weekend.