The good thing about baseball is playing every day. After a 13-1 shellacking at the hands of Zack Greinke and the Astros, the Blue Jays were looking to even the series. There may be a George Springer sighting sometime this month. The prize free agent signing had his best day of rehab, running the bases at full speed, taking fly balls in the outfield and batting practice. He's almost certain to go on a rehab assignment when ready, perhaps sometime next week. Ross Springer got the start. Reese McGuire was behind the plate. Randal Grichuk got the half day off, serving as the DH with Teoscar Hernandez in RF and Jonathan Davis in CF. Could the Blue Jays snap the two-game losing streak? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Astros opened the scoring in the top of the 4th on a bases loaded walk to Myles Straw that forced in Yuli Gurriel
- The Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom half of the inning as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- A batter later, Joe Panik smashed a 3-run bomb to the opposite field in right; also scoring Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez
- The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 5th as Guerrero Jr. hammered a 2-run bomb to left; also scoring Bo Bichette
- Jose Urquidy pitching line: 4.2IP 9H 6R (all earned) 0BB 5K 74 pitches (50 for strikes)
- Ross Stripling pitching line: 5IP 7H 1R (earned) 1BB 4K 74 pitches (42 for strikes)
- The Astros got one back in the top of the 9th on a ground out by Straw that scored Gurriel
- Final score: Blue Jays 6 Astros 2
My Take:
- It was another solid outing for Ross Stripling, who allowed a run on 7 hits while walking one and striking out 4. His only tough inning was in the 4th when he loaded the bases and allowed his only run on his only walk of the day.. He got help from 2 great defensive plays with Vlad firing one across the infield to nail Jose Altuve at 3rd base in the 1st inning and Lourdes Guriell Jr. throwing out Myles Straw at home in the 4th inning. That's three solid outings in a row for Stripling
- The bullpen was pretty solid. Tim Mayza retired all three batters he faced and struck out three. Trent Thornton threw two innings and gave up a hit and struck out 3. Rafael Dolis was the shakiest, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs on a single, walk and balk. Dolis rebounded though, conceding just the one run on a ground out.
- Offensively, the Blue Jays tallied for 6 runs in the 4th and 5th combined, highlighted by a 3-run shot by Joe Panik and Vlad going yard for 2 more runs
- Vlad had a great day, going 3-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI, and a great defensive play in the 1st, nailing Jose Altuve with an alert play.
- Every Blue Jay had at least one hit, except Randal Grichuk and Jonathan Davis
- The Blue Jays were 2-5 with runners in scoring positiion
- Up next, the Blue Jays go for a series win to wrap up the home stand. Steven Matz gets the start against Astros righty Luis Garcia
