The slumping Blue Jays limped into Boston today having lost three of their last four games. They opened a mini 2 game set versus the red-hot Boston Red Sox at Fenway park. Last season, the Red Sox and Blue Jays split the 10 games with each team winning 5 times and the Blue Jays outscored the Red Sox 58-50. Boston finished last in the AL East last season with a record of 24-36 and now they are first in the AL East with a 11-6 record. The Blue Jays made the playoffs last season with a record of 32-28 and were ousted in the WC round 2-0 by the Rays. So far this season, the Blue Jays are 4th in the AL East with a record of 7-9, 3.5 games back of the Red Sox. TJ Zeuch (right shoulder tendinitis) joined a growing list of injured pitchers that now includes Ross Stripling, Julian Merryweather, Kirby Yates (out for year), Tyler Chatwood, Patrick Murphy, Thomas Hatch, Nate Pearson, and Jordan Romano. Tonight featured a battle of the aces and southpaws as Hyun-Jin Ryu and Eduardo Rodriguez took the ball first for their respective teams. Ryu has a history of better starts on extra rest. Randal Grichuk was in CF today. Cavan Biggio was back in the lineup after recovering from a minor injury and was in RF. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was back in LF after a day off Monday. Vlad was back in the field @ 1B after serving as DH Monday (Alejandro Kirk served as DH today. Danny Jansen was back behind the plate after the day off Monday. Espinal Santiago got the start at the hot corner. Could the Blue Jays snap the 2 game losing streak? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 4th as Bo Bichette smacked a solo blast over the green monster in left
- The Red Sox took the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Xander Bogaerts hammered a three-run bomb to left-center and over the green monster also scoring JD Martinez and Christian Marwin
- Four batters later, Bobby Dalbec tripled home Marwin Gonzalez
- Hyun-Jin Ryu pitching line: 5IP 8H 4R (all earned) 0BB 2K 83 pitches (59 for strikes)
- Eduardo Rodriguez pitching line: 6IP 3H 2R (both earned) 1BB 6K 90 pitches (62 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 7th as Randal Grichuk smacked one over the green monster in left
- Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless 9th for his 3rd save of the season
- Final score: Red Sox 4 Blue Jays 2
My Take:
- The extra day of rest did not benefit Hyun-Jin Ryu on this day. He had one bad inning in the 4th where he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits. He was ver.10.y efficient the first three innings, taking just 29 pitches to get through the first two innings. It was essentially one bad inning that did him in. Unfortunately for Ryu, his fastball wasn't there with the velocity down to 88mph from around 90mph and that made a huge difference.
- Danny Jansen continues to struggle offensively. He was 0-3 tonight, dropping his average to a miniscule .065
- Vlad and Grich were literally the offensive. Both hit solo shots over the green monster and added one more hit each. Vlad also drew a 1st inning walk Marcus Semien also drew a walk in the 8th inning. Sorry, but that's not going to cut it most nights. The Blue Jays desperately need George Springer to make his season debut and Teoscar Hernandez to recover from COVID-19
- The Blue Jays were 0-1 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to earn a split in this mini 2-game series. Blue Jays batters will face Red Sox righty Garrett Richard. The Blue Jays have not named a starting pitcher. It might be a bullpen day for them
