Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Game #6 Chicago White Sox (2-2) @ Toronto Blue Jays (4-2) - game recap

Almedys Diaz was 3 for 3 at the plate finishing a triple short of the cycle in the Blue Jays 14-5 victory over the White Sox. He left the game after the 6th inning with back spasms.

Josh Donaldson made his much anticipated return to 3rd base. JD had been dealing with a dead arm all spring and is now ready to play defense again. The Blue Jays were looking to extend an early season win streak to 4 games. Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:


  • White Sox LF Nicky Delmonico singled home the first run of the game scoring Tim Anderson from second.
  • Almedys Diaz gave the Blue Jays the lead in the bottom of the 3rd with a 2 run HR scoring Luke Maille
  • Justin Smoak scored on a fielding error White Sox SS Anderson off a sharp Randal Grichuk grounder
  • Anderson made up for the error by leading off the top of the 4th inning with a solo shot 
  • Diaz extended the Blue Jays lead in the bottom half of the 4th with a double scoring Kevin Pillar
  • JD added a 2 run shot scoring Curtis Granderson, who had tripled the previous batter, to extend the lead to 4
  • Avisail Garcia continued the HR fest on the night in the top half of the 5th with a solo HR
  • Anderson scored on an Adam Engel groundout in the top of the 6th to cut the lead to 2
  • JA Happ pitching line: 5.1IP 7H 4R (all earned) 1BB 9K 93 pitches (60 for strikes)
  • Miguel Gonzalez pitching line: 5IP 8H 6R (5 earned) 2BB 4K 89 pitches (58 for strikes)
  • Donaldson picked up another RBI singling home Diaz in the bottom of the 6th 
  • Yolmer Sanchez homered in the top of the 8th to cut the lead to 2
  • Granderson doubled in the Blue Jays 8th run scoring Gift Ngoepe
  • Grichuk hit a sac fly to score Donaldson
  • Kendrys Morales singled home Smoak a batter later 
  • Pillar doubled home Solarte a batter later 
  • Maille doubled scoring Pillar and Morales
  • Final score; Blue Jays 14 White Sox 5
My Take:

  • It was an offensive slugfest tonight. The two teams combined for 19 runs, including 5HR. Almedys Diaz, Donaldson and Granderson all had big nights at the plate, combining to drive in 7 of the 12 Blue Jay runs on the night. Diaz finished a triple short of the cycle. The Blue Jays batted around in the 8th inning to extend to a season high lead of 9 runs. They scored 7 runs in the 8th inning alone. Every Blue Jay batter had either a hit or an RBI. I love how the Blue Jays are approaching their at bats. When they see a pitch they like, they aren't missing. They are also regularly taking pitches that aren't strikes. Blue Jay batters were only retired by strike out 6 times tonight
  • On the injury front, Donaldson made his return to 3rd base tonight. His throws looked much crisper than opening night; although he did bounce one throw. He also had a good night at the plate. Almedys Diaz left the game with a back injury. With the off-day Thursday, don't be surprised if Diaz is out of the lineup Wednesday
  • Jays starter JA Happ battled through 5 innings. He wasn't quite hitting his spots, but he threw more balls for strikes than in his first start. Happ became the 1st Jays reliever to earn the win. The first three wins of the streak were credited to relievers.
  • The Blue Jays have their first 4 game win streak since September 9-12 last season. If they extend the streak to 5 tomorrow, they will match the longest winning streak from 2017 (May 10-14 and May 21-27 (there were 2 off-days in the second streak)
  • Next up the Blue Jays look to complete the sweep over the White Sox and extend the streak to 5 games. Aaron Sanchez makes his second start of the season. The White Sox will counter with righty Carson Fulmer