Game #79 Toronto Blue Jays (37-42) @ Houston Astros (53-28) - game recap

Alex Bregman went 4-5 at the plate with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored as the Astros shut out the Blue Jays 7-0

The Blue Jays received bad news on the injury front with Josh Donaldson suffering a setback with his calf. He re-injured the muscle while taking grounders in prep of a rehab assignment. It is unlikely the Blue Jays will get any injured players back before the all-star break (maybe Sanchez if he just needed to miss the one start.) With the recent spate of injuries this week, Lefty Ryan Borucki made his MLB debut tonight. Borucki had a 6-5 record with a 3.27 ERA this season. Here is tonight's game recap.

Game highlights

• The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the 5th as Evan Gattis singled scoring Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve
• Ryan Borucki pitching line: 6IP 6H 2R (both earned) 4BB 3K 95 pitches (55 for strikes)
• Charlie Morton pitching line: 7IP 4H 0R 2BB 13K 98 pitches (67 for strikes)
• The Astros added 3 more in the bottom of the 8th as Jake Marisnick hit a 3 run bomb that also scored Tony Kemp and Josh Reddick
• Two batters later, Bregman decided to join the party with his own 2 run jack that also plated George Springer.
• Final  score: Astros 7 Blue Jays 0

My take

• Considering the lineup he was facing, Ryan Borucki did a nice job in his major league debut. He allowed just two runs on six hits and four walks. Did he have nerves today? For sure and it showed with the high walk count. It's just too bad that the Blue Jays could not provide him any run support. In my mind, Borucki has earned himself another start should Sanchez and Garcia require more time to heal.
• Believe it or not, but the Blue Jays were still within striking distance until the bottom of the 8th when Tim Mayza and Preston Guilmet combined to give to 5 runs on 3 hits and a walk (2 of the hits were HR). 
• There was some great defensive plays tonight. For the Astros, Jake Marisnick made a terrific leaping catch against the wall in left-center to rob Justin Smoak of extra bases and a couple of RBI that could have tied the game. In the bottom half of the inning Yangervis Solarte made a nice snag of a sharply hit ground ball to rob Marwin Gonzalez of extra bases. In the bottom of the 4th, Russell Martin made a nice juggling catch of a 3rd strike to keep the game scoreless at the time. In the bottom of the 3rd, Aledmys Diaz made a great diving stop and threw out Evan Gattis at 1st to end a dangerous threat.
• Blue Jays batters had a difficult day at the office today, striking out 15 times as a team (Teoscar Hernandez and Curtis Granderson each struck out three times. Not really anything positive to say about the offence in this one.
• John Gibbons made a couple of curious decisions in this game. First, he put the hit and run on with a batter that strikes out a lot at the plate (Russell Martin) and perhaps the slowest runner on the team (Justin Smoak) on first. Second, Gibbons chose to use Kendrys Morales as a pinch hitter for SS Aledmys Diaz. This meant that 2 of the 3 bench players were wasted for a strikeout to end the inning (Maile came into catch, Martin moved to 3B and Solarte shifted to SS). I can only imagine what Gibbons would have done if something happened to Maile during that half inning or if he decided to argue with the ump and get himself kicked out of the game. Martin would have been forced to go back behind the plate and Steve Pearce probably would have come into the game at 3B. Thankfully nothing happened today.
• Up next, the Blue Jays look to win the series and finish a difficult road trip on a positive note. Right-hander Marco Estrada goes up against Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel, who has not allowed an earned run in his last 12 innings. Kendrys Morales has had success against the Astros big southpaw, batting .316 in 19AB.