After their first home stand in their new temporary home in Buffalo where they swept the Marlins and dropped two of three to the Astros, the Bue Jays opened a stretch of 13 straight and 12 of 15 on the road. Tonight, they began a three game set vs. the White Sox. In 2019, the White Sox took 4 of 7 in the season series, outscoring the Blue Jays 27-25. A big concern for the Blue Jays at the start of this road trip and stretch of games has to be the health of starting catcher Danny Jansen, who was removed from the game Sunday after injuring his hamstring sliding into 3rd base after an ill-advised attempt to advance to 3rd base on a grounder. He was thrown out easily and cost the Blue Jays a likely run. While it was a blatant baserunning error, the bigger concern is Alejandro Kirk is still rehabbing a hip flexor injury and the only catcher would be 25-year-old Riley Adams who would be making his MLB debut before the Blue Jays would ideally like. Robbie Ray got the start tonight. Jansen was placed on the 10-day IL and Adams made his MLB debut behind the plate tonight. Lourdes Gurriel Jr got the half day off, serving as DH with Teoscar Hernandez in LF, Jonathan Davis in CF and Randal Grichuk in RF. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing Sunday. Santiago Espinal was at the hot corner tonight. Could the Blue Jays start the road trip with a win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 2nd on a sac fly by Jonathan Davis that scored Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
- Riley Adams got his first career hit in the 5th, doubling off the wall in CF. He was stranded at 3B
- Carlos Rodon pitching line: 5IP 6H 1R (earned) 2BB 8K 106 pitches (65 for pitches)
- The White Sox tied the game in the bottom of the 7th as Andrew Vaughn bashed a solo blast to right-center
- Robbie Ray pitching line: 6.1IP 5H 1R (earned) 0BB 13K 102 pitches (72 for strikes)
- The White Sox retook the lead in the bottom of the 8th on a sac fly by Vaughn that scored Jose Abreu
- A batter later, Adam Eaton singled scoring Yermin Mercedes
- A batter after that, Leurya Garcia tripled home Eaton and Yasmani Grandal
- A batter later, Garcia scored on a sac fly by Tim Anderson
My Take:
- It was a strong by Robbie Ray, who gave up a solo HR and scattered 4 other hits while walking none and striking out 13 over 6.1 innings.I really liked how Riley Adams handled Ray with pitch selection. It's just unfortunate the bullpen couldn't keep the score even long enough for the Blue Jays to score.
- Speaking of the bullpen, it was a shaky night indeed. The bullpen (Trent Thornton and Carl Edwards Jr.) coughed up 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk in the 8th inning. Rafael Dolis loaded the bases on 2 walks and a single in the 7th, but escaped the jam by striking out Yoan Moncada. The bullpe appears overworked and overmatched. They better dig deep because they won't see an off-day for 2 weeks
- Riley Adams made a good first impression, collecting his fitst big league hit in the 5th and working well with Robbie Ross
- Vlad (1 hit and 2 walks) and Bo (2 hits and a walk) both hand strong nights at the plate. Bichette also made a fine play in the field leaping up to snare a line drive by Jose Abreu
- The Blue Jays were a dismal 1-12 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, Alek Manoah makes his third career start. He was knocked around a bit last start, but that's part of the learning process. The White Sox will counter with righty Lance Lynn
