Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Game #18 Toronto Blue Jays (7-11) @ Minnesota Twins (8-6) - game recap

Eric Sogard was 3-5 with a pair of runs scored in his Blue Jays debut as the Blue Jays held on to edge the Twins 6-5

A day after a thrilling come from behind victory that saw Joe Biagini miraculously come up clutch in the 9th, the Blue Jays turned to Aaron Sanchez to continue his strong start to the season. What kind of offensive support would he get? Top of the lineup was Eric Sogard, two years removed from his last decent season. The 8th man in the lineup, Socrates Brito, has yet to record a hit this season and may yet challenge Chris Davis's hitless streak before long. Defensively, things look ok, as long as Teoscar Hernandez doesn't get the yips in LF and Danny Jansen can keep the wild pitches in front of him. Could the Blue Jays pull another rabbit out of the proverbial hat? Here is tonight's game recap.

Game Highlights:
  • The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the 3rd as Jorge Polanco crushed one deep into the plaza deck at Target Field
  • The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 6th as Justin Smoak singled home Danny Jansen and Eric Sogard
  • Two batters later, Rowdy Tellez singled home Randal Grichuk
  • A batter later, Alen Hanson singled scoring Smoak
  • Kyle Gibson pitching line: 5.1IP 4H 4R (all earned) 3BB 4K 94 pitches (53 for strikes)
  • The Twins tied it in the bottom half of the inning as Eddie Rosario cracked a three-run bomb over the scoreboard in right; also scoring Polanco and Max Kepler
  • The Blue Jays retook the lead in the top of the 7th as Teoscar Hernandez singled scoring Eric Sogard and Grichuk. A base running blunder by Hernandez left Smoak in no-man's land and ended the inning
  • Aaron Sanchez pitching line: 6IP 4H 4R (all earned) 4BB 5K 89 pitches (52 for strikes)
  • The Twins got one back in the bottom of the 9th a Marwin Gonzalez absolutely tattooed one to the deepest part of the ballpark
  • Ken Giles picked up his 5th save of the season
  • Final score: Blue Jays 6 Twins 5
My Take:
  • Aaron Sanchez battled through 6 solid innings of work, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. He needs to work on his command, but it's still early in the season. It's just nice to see him using all his pitches and displaying good velocity.
  • Time for the Socrates Brito experiment to end. He struck out to end the 5th and 8th innings and he killed the rally the Blue Jays had going in the 6th, flying out on the 1st pitch. I don't know why the Blue Jays are being patient with him when an equally ineffective Gift Ngoepe was DFA'd earlier than this point in the season.
  • Freddy Galvis is BY FAR the best free agent acquisition of 2018. He fired a strike to Danny Jansen to end the game when it looked like Ken Giles was going to blow his 2nd save in a week. He also extended his hitting streak with a single.
  • Eric Sogard had a great debut in a Blue Jays uniform, going 3-5 at the plate and scoring a pair of runs. He only had to make one play in the field, which he handled cleanly.
  • The Blue Jays plate approaches have been much improved in the past week. They are working the count and fouling off pitches to stay alive in the AB. As a result, they only struck out 8 times and drew 6 walks. They got nine hits as well because the pitchers were forced to throw bad pitches
  • Up next, the Blue Jays go for their 3rd straight win and first series win of the season.Trent Thornton will be looking to bounce back after a rough outing five days ago that led to an early exit. The Twins will counter with righty Jake Orodozzi, who had a no-hitter into the 5th inning his last start.