Saturday, April 28, 2018

Game #26 Texas Rangers (11-17) @ Toronto Blue Jays (14-12) - game recap

Bartolo Colon pitched 7 strong innings as the Texas Rangers handed the Toronto Blue Jays their 4th straight loss with a 7-4 victory in a Saturday matinee game.

The Toronto Blue Jays were looking to snap a 3 game losing streak facing Bartolo Colon who seems to give the Blue Jays fits when he starts. Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:

  • The Rangers opened the scoring as Jurickson Profar crushed a 2-run blast into the basing of the second deck that also scored Joey Gallo
  • The next batter Robinson Chirinos hit an opposite field solo shot to extend the lead to 3
  • A miscommunication between Curtis Granderson and Kevin Pillar led to a Shin-Soo Choo double that scored Ryan Rua and Delino DeShields
  • Jaimie Garcia pitching line: 4IP 4H 5R (all earned) 4BB 5K 103 pitches (53 for strikes)
  • Kevin Pillar got the Blue Jays on the board with a solo HR leading off the bottom of the 5th 
  • Chirinos hit his second HR of the game in the top of the 6th to extend the Rangers lead to 5
  • Teoscar Hernandez scored the Blue Jays second run on a groundout by Yangervis Solarte in the bottom half of the 6th
  • Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit his first big-league HR leading off the bottom of the 7th to cut the Rangers lead to 3
  • Bartolo Colon pitching line: 7IP 6H 3R (all earned) 0BB 2K 98 pitches (65 for strikes)
  • The Rangers added another insurance run in the 9th as DeShields scored on a Choo single
  • Pillar hit his second HR of the game to cut the Rangers lead back to 3
  • Final score: Rangers 7 Blue Jays 4
My Take: 

  • Jaimie Garcia had a rough outing today. His command was off as he walked four batters and threw 3 wild pitches. He also gave up a pair of HR. Garcia started the game with 4 strikeouts but he threw 21 pitches to get those 4 outs. It's been talked about recently that Toronto needs the starters to go deeper in the game. Throwing 20+ pitches in an inning with a general pitch count of about 100 pitches for a starter won't get you more than 5 or 6 innings.
  • On the other hand, Bartolo Colon was much more efficient with his pitches. He had much better command and was able to pitch to contact which kept his pitch count low. He threw 81 pitches through the first 7 innings and only gave up 2 solo home runs, a triple, double and a pair of singles. Colon had one count that went to a full count (a Luke Maile single).
  • Key play in the 6th: Ryan Rua hit a ball down the line that was called foul. A fan reached out and touched the ball right near the foul line. Had the umpires determined that the ball was in fair territory when the ball was touched by the fan, Rua likely would have been awarded 2nd base. Instead, the at-bat continued and Rua eventually struck out.
  • Congrats to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who got his first major league HR off big sexy.
  • Kevin Pillar was the lone bright spot for the Blue Jays with 2 solo HR today.
  • Up next, the Blue Jays and Rangers wrap up the season series. Toronto has to win or the Rangers will take the season series (also do you really want to see the Blue Jays swept by the most hated team in baseball?) The pitching match-up is JA Happ against fellow southpaw Martin Perez