After their sixth straight win, the Blue Jays were looking to keep it going. Julian Meriweather was reinstated from the 60 day IL, Anthony Kay was placed on the COVID-IL and Bryarn Barker was optioned back to AAA. Alek Manoah got the start with Danny Jansen behind the plate. The rest of the lineup was the same as yesterday. Could the Blue Jays make it 7 straight wins? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 4th as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. scored on a wild pitch by Lucas Luetge
- Two batters later, Marcus Semien singled scoring Jake Lamb and Danny Jansen
- Luis Gil pitching line: 3.1IP 1H 3R (all earned) 7BB 6K 91 pitches (47 for strikes)
- The Yankees tied the game in the bottom of the 5th as Brett Gardner hammered a 3-run bomb to right-center; also scoring Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor
- Alek Manoah pitching line: 5.2IP 5H 3R (all earned) 3BB 4K 101 pitches (62 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays retook the lead in the top of the 7th as Teoscar Hernandez singled home Semien
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 8th on a sac fly by Lamb that scored Jarrod Dyson
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 9th as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. whacked a solo blast to left
- Jordan Romano pitched a perfect 9th for his 16th save of the season.
- Final score: Blue Jays 6 Yankees 3
My Take:
- Alek Manoah battled through 5.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. Manoah had to endure many long innings sitting on the bench as his opponent could not find the strike zone.
- The bullpen held the Yankees to a pair of hits a walk over the final 3.1 innings while striking out 6 strikes.
- The offense came through after Manoah gave up the three run blast to tie the game, etching across three runs in the latter three innings. How they got their runs today is important too - just one home run by Vlad and the rest run scoring singles, sac flies and a a wild pitch. Teams are getting smart to the Blue Jays swinging for the fences and throwing more pitches away from the sweet part of the bat. Winning teams can get runs in multiple ways.
- Marcus Semien drove in two of the runs and scored himself.
- The Blue Jays were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and grounded into 3 double plays
- In terms of the wild card race, the Blue Jays gained nothing on the Red Sox or Mariners. who both won. They remain 2 back of the Red Sox and a game ahead of Seattle. Tomorrow's game is huge because with a series sweep, the Blue Jays woukd be just a half game back of the Yankees for the 2nd WC spot with 4 games in 3 days vs. Baltimore next up.
- Up next, the Blue Jays go for the series sweep and 8 straight wins. Jose Berrios pitches against Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes Jr.
