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| Alejandro Kirk drove in the only Blue Jays run in a 5-1 loss to the A's |
After a third straight loss thanks to a 6-run 5th inning by the Rays, the Blue Jays headed west to take on the Oakland A's. It is the halfway point of the season. The Blue Jays are 3rd in the AL East, 14 games back of the Yankees. They are in the 2nd WC spot, a game back of the Red Sox and a half game up on the Rays. The Blue Jays took 2 of 3 from the A's back in Toronto April 15-17 and outscored the A's 13-11. Lefty Anthony Banda, acquired from the Pirates over the weekend, was activated and Matt Gage was optioned to AAA. Alek Manoah got the start with Alejandro Kirk George Springer was back in the field after DH'ing Sunday. Vlad DH'd today with Cavan Biggio. Santiago Espinal was back in the field after the day off yesterday. Could the Blue Jays snap the 3-game losing streak and start the week and road trip with a win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The A's opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st on a sac fly by Stephen Vogt and throwing error by George Springer that scored Ramon Laureano
- A batter later, Elvis Andrus doubled scoring Seth Brown and Sean Murphy
- The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 4th as Alejandro Kirk singled scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- The A's added a run in the bottom of the 5th as Laureano hammered a solo bomb to left-center
- The A's added a run in the bottom of the 6th as Vogt drilled a solo bomb to dead center
- Alek Manoah pitching line: 5.2IP 6H 5R (4 earned) 2BB 5K 101 pitches (67 for strikes)
- Cole Irvin pitching line: 8IP 4H 1R (earned) 0BB 4K 95 pitches (67 for strikes)
- Final score: A's 5 Blue Jays 1
My Take:
- Alek Manoah battled through 5.2 innings, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. He had a rough 1st inning where he gave up three of the runs on 2 hits, a walk, a hit batter and sac fly/throwing error. He did settle down after giving up the 3rd run to retired 6 in a row. You have to wonder if he and the team were still thinking about 1st base coach Mark Budzinski, whose daughter Julia died in a tragic inner tubing accident over the weekend. That and the Blue Jays were running on fumes after playing 4 games in 72 hours then having to take a cross continental flight for tonight's game.
- The bullpen held the A's to a hit while striking out one over the final 2.1 innings. Reliever Anthony Banda, acquired in a weekend deal with the Pirates, made his Blue Jays debut and pitched an inning giving up a hit
- Offensively, it was a quiet night for the bats. In fact, it took until the 4th inning to get their 1st hit - a double by Vlad, who was driven home by the next batter Alejandro Kirk on a single.
- The loss means the Blue Jays are now a game and a half back of the Red Sox, who shut out the Rays tonight. They also dropped a half game to the idle Yankees for 1st in the AL East. They are now 14.5 games back of 1st in the AL East
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to snap the 4 game skid. Yusei Kikuchi starts against A's righty Adrian Martinez
