Sunday, April 7, 2019

Game #11 Toronto Blue Jays (3-8) @ Cleveland Indians (6-3) - game recap

Indians righty Mike Clevinger struck out 10 Blue Jays in a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays 

Well, not much to say in the preamble other than to say this might be the worst Blue Jays start I've witnessed in 27 years of watching this team. I started watching the Blue Jays in the 1992 championship season. Today, the Blue Jays try to avoid being swept for the first time this season. Somehow they split the series series against Detroit and they had their only decent offensive output in the final game against Baltimore. This series has been like watching an MLB team playing a double A team. Every game Blue Jays are striking out at least once an inning. As of Friday's game, they had set a new record for fewest hits in the first 9 games, managing 6 fewer hits than the previous low of 57. You have to give the fans something to hang their hat on. Anyway, Marcus Stroman got his third start of the season and was looking to keep the good run by the starters going. Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:
  • The Indians opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st as Carlos Santana doubled scoring Jake Bauers
  • A batter later, Tyler Naquin singled home Santana
  • The Indians added a run in the bottom of the 5th as Jose Ramirez singled home Brad Miller
  • Mike Clevinger pitching line: 5IP 1H 0R 1BB 10K 75 pitches (52 for strikes)
  • Marcus Stroman pitching line: 6IP 6H 3R (all earned) 1BB 6K 99 pitches (64 for strikes)`
  • The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 8th as Daany Jansen singled scoring Billy McKinney
  • Final score: Indians 3 Blue Jays 1
My Take:
  • About the only bright spot for the Blue Jays has been the Stroshow, who has been dealing this season. The Blue Jays ace allowed 3 runs on 6 hits while walking one and striking out 6
  • This is seriously just getting sad. The Blue Jays went down swinging or looking 16 times today. It's the 4th time EVER in MLB history that a team had 13+ batters strike out in 4 straight games
  • Just three batters from today's lineup are batting atr or above .200 (Freddy Galvis, Rowdy Tellez and Richard Urena). Believe it or not that's better than what Cleveland fielded today (Only Tyler Naquin and Carlos Santana are above the Mendoza line)
  • Could Gibby be making a third stint as the Blue Jays nanager soon?
  • Up next, the Blue Jays face the defending World series champs after the first off-day of the season. Matt Shoemaker pitches against Red Sox ace and Blue Jay killer Chris Sale