After a solid win over the A's on the strength of 4 shutout innings from Ross Stripling plus a solid effort from the bullpen and timely hitting, the Blue Jays were looking for their 2nd straight win. Hyun-Jin Ryu got the start after being pushed back a day. George Springer got the complete day off with Bradley Zimmer in CF. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday. Zack Collins served as DH today with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Could the Blue Jays make it two straight wins? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st as Raimel Tapia scored on a fielder's choice hit by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- The A's tied the game in the top of the 2nd as Sheldon Neuse singled scoring Sean Murphy
- A batter later, Kevin Smith doubled home Neuse
- A batter after that, Christian Bethancourt hit a ground-rule doubled that scored Smith
- The A's added a pair of runs in the top of the 4th as Murphy hit a 2-run bomb to dead center also scoring Jed Lowrie
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom of the 4th as Collins singled home Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
- Hyun-Jin Ryu pitching line: 4IP 6H 5R (all earned) 0BB 2K 53 pitches (33 for strikes)
- Paul Blackburn pitching line: 5IP 5H 2R (both earned) 0BB 3K 73 pitches (47 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got a pair back in the bottom of the 6th as Matt Chapman whacked a 2-run blast to left-center; also scoring Gurriel Jr.
- A batter later, Collins smacked a solo blast to right
- The A's took the lead in the top of the 9th as Cristian Pache whacked a 2-run blast to right-center; also scoring Bethancourt
- Lou Trivino pitched a scoreless 9th for his 2nd save of the season
- Final score: A's 7 Blue Jays 5
- Hyun-Jin Ryu had a rough 2nd inning where he gave up 3 runs on 4 straight hits before retiring the next 3 batters. He then gave up a 2-run jack in the next inning. He is definitely on the back 9 of his career. As with most pitchers, location is a key to his success. Usually extra days off help Ryu, but this time it did not.
- Julian Merryweather gave up an unfortunate long ball with the game tied in the 9th and that was all the A's needed to eke out the win
- Offensively, 3 of the 5 runs came off the home run. Every Blue Jays batter had at least one hit except Bradley Zimmer, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- The Blue Jays were 1-6 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the rubber match. Alek Manoah starts against A's righty Adam Oller
