Happy mother's day! After splitting yesterday's double header, the Blue Jays were looking for the split in the 4-game series. Alek Manoah got the start. Vlad got the half day off as DH with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. at 1B. George Springer was back in the field after DH'ing the 2nd game of yesterday's double header. Raimel Tapia took Gurriel Jr's spot in LF. Could the Blue Jays earn the series split with a win? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Teosar Hernandez singled scoring George Springer and Bo Bichette
- The Guardians got one back in the bottom of the 3rd as Jose Ramirez tripled home Steven Kwan
- A batter later, Ramirez scored on a sac fly by Owen Miller
- Konnor Pilkington pitching line: 3.2IP 3H 2R (both earned) 3BB 6K 83 pitches (55 for strikes)
- Alek Manoah pitching line: 5IP 5H 2R (both earned) 1BB 3K 95 pitches (61 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 7th on a sac fly by Springer that scored Santiago Espinal
- The Guardians tied the game in the bottom of the 8th as Miller bashed a solo blast to left-center
- Four batters later, Oscar Mercado singled home Franmil Reyes
- Emmanuel Clase pitched a perfect 9th for his 6th save of the season
- Final score: Gaurdians 4 Blue Jays 3
My Take:
- Alek Manoah battled through 5 innings, giving up a pair of runs on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 3. One of those games where Manoah had to figure out which pitches were working. Not a super efficient day with an average of almost 20 pitches an inning. Still going to challenge for the Cy Young though.
- The normally strong bullpen had a rough day. Tim Mayza gave up a game-tying home run and then the Guardians took the lead off Adam Cimber with a pair of hits and a walk. The Blue Jays got fortunate that Andres Gimenez got greedy trying to take an extra base. The one silver lining is now Jordan Romano will have three days between appearances.
- It was nice to see Teoscar Hernandez drive in a pair in the 1st inning. Unfortunately, the offense did little else on Mother's day. The Blue Jays were 2-8 with runners in scoring position. They need better approaches at the plate.
- Up next, after an off-day tomorrow, the Blue Jays begin a mini 2-game set against the Yankees at Yankees Stadium. Yusei Kikuchi gets the start. The Yankees have not set their rotation yet.
