After exchanging bow out wins in the first two games, the Blue Jays were looking to take the rubber match, their 11th series win of the season and victory to end the homestand. Ryan Borucki was dealt to the Mariners after the game yesterday, giving the embattled lefty a fresh start. Kevin Gausman got the start with Danny Jansen behind the plate. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday. Alejandro Kirk served as DH today. Could the Blue Jays end the week with a win? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Twins took the lead on a fielding error by Teoscar Hernandez on a ball hit by Jorge Polanco that scored Luis Arraez
- A batter later, Gary Sanchez scored on a ground out by Gio Urshela
- Two batters later, Jose Miranda singled scoring Polanco
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom half of the inning as George Springer led off by smashing a solo blast to left
- The Twins added a run in the top of the 2nd as Jermaine Palacios singled scoring Nick Gordon
- Three batters later, Polanco singled home Palacios
- Kevin Gausman pitching line: 3.2IP 9H 5R (3 earned) 1BB 3K 87 pitches (58 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom of the 5th as Alejandro Kirk belted a solo bomb to the second deck in left-center
- Devin Smeltzer pitching line:4IP 4H 2R (both earned) 2BB 1K 62 pitches (38 for strikes)
- The Twins added a run in the top of the 7th as Trevor Larnach drilled a solo bomb to the second deck in right
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom half of the inning as Matt Chapman whacked a solo jack to left-center
- The Twins added a pair of runs in the top of the 8th a Sanchez smacked a 2-run blast just inside the left foul pole; also scoring Arraez
- The Blue Jays got three back in the bottom of the 9th as Santiago Espinal bashed a 3-run blast to left; also scoring Kirk and Chapman
- Jovani Moran got the final out for is 1st save of the season
- Final score: Twins 8 Blue Jays 6
- Kevin Gausman continued a bad trend this weekend. He fell behind early and the Blue Jays were unable to recover. The Twins got three runs in the 1st inning off Gausman. His defense didn't exactly help him out with Teo and Vlad both missing catches because they were not wearing sunglasses. The Twins added 2 more runs in the 2nd inning and Gausman was gone after just 3.2 innings, his shortest start of the season.
- The bullpen could not keep the Twins in the ballpark, giving up a pair of late home runs for three crucial insurance runs that proved to be the difference in the game.
- The Blue Jays made a valiant effort to come back and had the tying run on 1st base, but Bo Bichette grounded out to end the game. It was nice to see the balls leaving the yard as this is the Blue Jays greatest strength and has been for several seasons, dating back to the big boppers of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion of 2015/16/17. George Springer got things started with a lead of blast. Alejandro Kirk and Matt Chapman both had solo shots and Santiago Espinal had a huge 3-run jack to put the Blue Jays within striking distance.
- Every Blue Jays starter except Teo, Bichette and Danny Jansen had at least one hit. Only Jansen and Teo failed to reach base
- Up next, the Blue Jays hit the road starting in Kansas City tomorrow night. Ross Stripling starts against Royals lefty Daniel Lynch
