Game #42 Toronto Blue Jays (21-21) @ New York Mets (20-18) - game recap

Mets CF Juan Lagares was 4-5 at the plate with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored as the Mets routed the Blue Jays 12-2

After a 90 minute rain delay, the Blue Jays and Mets kicked off interleague play for the 2 ball clubs. The last time the Blue Jays and Mets played each other was in 2015 when the Blue Jays won 2 of 3 games at the Rogers Center. RA Dickey won the rubber match, taking a 3-hitter into the 8th inning. We roughed up Bartolo Colon for 7 runs on 9 hits in 4.1 innings. Drew Hutchinson shut out the Mets in the second game. Can the Blue Jays win this series? Here is today's game recap.

Game highlights:

• The Mets opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd as Noah Syndergaard doubled home Devin Mesoraco
• The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 3rd as Yangervis Solarte singled home Curtis Granderson and Justin Somak
• The Mets tied it in the bottom of the 4th on a Noah Syndergaard sac fly that scored Jay Bruce
• The next batter Amed Rosario doubled to scored Mesoraco
• Two batters later, Juan Lagares doubled to score Jose Reyes and Rosario
• The next batter Asdrubal Cabrera doubled to score Lagares
• Jaime Garcia pitching line: 3.2IP 6H 6R (all earned) 3BB 3K 67 pitches (39 for strikes)
• Noah Syndergaard pitching line: 5IP 5H 2R (both earned) 2BB 7K 103 pitches (58 for strikes)
• Rosario singled home Mesoraco in the bottom of the 5th
• The next batter Brandon Nimmo singled to sore Adrian Gonzalez
• The next batter Lagares singled to score Rosario
• Luis Guillorme singled to score Lagares in the bottom of the 8th.
• Three batters later Mesoraco homered, also scoring Wilmer Flores
• Final score: Mets 12 Blue Jays 2

My take:

• Jaime Garcia had his worst outing of the season. He could not get out of the 4th inning tonight. Arguably, John Gibbons should have left him in there considering the Blue Jays bullpen situation. His pitch count was ok (67 pitches when he was pulled), he had just batted the previous half inning so his spot in the batting order wasn't coming up for a while. Also, he had struck out the next batter, Asdrubal Cabrera the previous inning. The good news is Garcia only has a 1 year deal so he'll be off the books at season's end.
• Offensively, not a whole lot to hang your hat on in this one. Yangervis Solarte drove in the only 2 runs the Blue Jays scored with a 2 out single in the top of the 3rd. The Blue Jays went down in order in the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th innings. Yes, we are missing position starters Troy Tulowitzki, Steve Pearce and Aledmys Diaz (sorry but Randal Grichuk effectively lost the starting RF job to Teoscar Hernandez) but realistically how much can you rely on those three players to carry the offense?
• To win a baseball game, you need to score enough runs and prevent the other team from scoring. Sorry but 6 hits and 2 runs won't win you a lot of ball games, especially with a struggling pitching staff that is prone to allowing the big inning (I'm talking about the starting pitchers). Our bullpen has actually been one of the best in the AL. I shudder to think how bad this team's fortunes would be if the bullpen was average.
• Up next, the Blue Jays look to avoid being swept for the first time this season and falling below .500 for the first time since March 31. Ace JA Happ starts against Mets righty Zack Wheeler.