After a huge shutout win over the Orioles on the back of 9 runs over the first three innings last night and a decent pitching performance by Anthony Kay, the Blue Jays were looking to make it 6 straight wins overall and 4 straight over the Orioles. It's uncanny how horrible a baseball squad the Orioles have been over the past 5 years. They have finished dead last in the AL East 3 of 5 years. Their best year in that span was 2016 when they finished 2nd in the AL East and lost the WC game to the Blue Jays after a dumb decision to leave Zach Britton warming up in the bullpen. In two of those seasons, the Orioles had over 100 losses. This season, they are in the basement again and 21.5 games back of the 1st place Tampa Bay Rays. They are exhibit A for why tanking DOES NOT WORK!!! This will be an interesting start for Alek Manoah, who was ejected from his last start after hitting Orioles 3B Mikael Franco, leading to a bench clearing brawl. Manoah was suspended 5 games, but appealed the decision. Teoscar Hernandez got the half day off serving as DH with George Springer back in CF, Randal Grichuk in RF and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in LF. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday. Could the Blue Jays extend the winning streak to 6 games? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd as George Springer hammered a solo bomb to desd center
- The Orioles tied the game in the top of the 3rd on a double play ball hit by Freddy Galvis that scored Pedro Severino
- The Blue Jays retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smashed a solo blast to straightaway center
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom of the 4th as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled home Randal Grichuk
- Matt Harvey pitching line: 5.2IP 6H 3R (all earned) 1BB 2K 92 pitches (60 for strikes)
- Alek Manoah pitching line: 6IP 4H 1R (unearned) 2BB 6K 97 pitches (69 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th on a double by Marcus Semien that scored Gurriel Jr. and Reese McGuire
- The Orioles got one back in the top of the 8th as Ryan Mountcastle singled scoring Cedric Mullins
- A batter later, Anthony Santander singled home Galvis
- A batter after that, Austin Hays doubled scoring Mountcastle and Santander
- The Orioles took the lead in the top of the 9th on a bases loaded walked to Pat Valaika that scored Trey Mancini
- Cole Sulser pitched a scoreless 9th for his 2nd save of the season
- Final score: Orioles 6 Blue Jays 5
My Take:
- Alek Manoah pitched 6 solid innings, giving up an unearned run on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 6. It was a good redemption game for Manoah after being ejected for beaning Mikail Franco and causing a bench clearing brawl. It was probably good for Manoah to get to face the same team he faced last start. Hopefully he builds on this start
- The bullpen, as has been a troubling theme this season, blew a late game lead. Tyler Chatwood came into the game with a four run lead. He proceeded to give up three runs on 2 walks and a hit. While he wasn't directly responsible for two of the runs, he was still responsible for them when Taylor Saucedo came in and gave up back-toback hits. It was a questionable move by Charlie Montoyo to leave Jordan Romano in the bullpen - unless he wasn't ready yet - with the Blue Jays nursing a three run lead with one out. It was shades of the 2016 WC game when Zach Britton was left in the bullpen when the Orioles had a late game lead. Trent Thorton walked three batters in the 10th to push across what would be the winning run
- George Springer got a monkey off his back, smacking a HR for his first hit back from the second DL stint. Springer bobbled Austin Hays double a bit to allow two runs to score.
- Every Blue Jays starter exceot Teoscar Hernandez, Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichtte (he drew a walk)
- The Blue Jays were 2-8 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to retake the lead in the weekend series. Tomorrow will be a battle of the lefties with Blue Jays ace Hyun-jin Ryu pitching against Otioles lefty Keegan Akin
