| Santiago Espinal drove in three runs and scored another in an 11-7 win over the Rangers |
After winning yesterday on a late clutch hit from Danny Jansen, the Blue Jays were going for season series win #10, series win #21 and their 3rd straight win. Kevin Gausman got the start with Danny Jansen behind the plate. Same lineup as yesterday except Cavan Biggio got the start in RF. Could the Blue Jays notch their 21st series win, 10th season series win and 3rd straight win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Alejandro Kirk doubled scoring George Springer and Bo Bichette
- Four batters later, Santiago Espinal singled scoring Kirk and Matt Chapman
- The Rangers got three runs in the bottom half of the inning as Adolis Garcia drilled a 3-run bomb to left-center; also scoring Marcus Semien and Corey Seagar
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 3rd as Espinal doubled scoring Cavan Biggio
- A batter later, Raimel Tapia hammered a 3-run bomb to right; also scoring Espinal and Danny Jansen
- Three batters later, Bichette doubled scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the top of the 4th as Jansen belted a 2-run bomb to left-center; also scoring Biggio
- Kohei Arihara pitching line: 3IP 12H 11R (all earned) 5BB 1K 99 pitches (54 for strikes)
- The Rangers got a pair back in the top of the 6th as Sam Huff bashed a 2-run jack to the opposite field in right-center; also scoring Josh Jung
- Two batters later, Bubba Thompson doubled scoring Josh H. Smith
- A batter later, Semien singled home Thompson
- Kevin Gausman pitching line: 5.1IP 8H 5R (all earned) 1BB 9K 101 pitches (73 for strikes)
- Tim Mayza got the final 4 outs for his 1st save of the season
- Final score: Blue Jays 11 Rangers 7
My Take:
- Not the best start for Kevin Gausman, who gave up 5 runs on 8 hits while walking 1 and striking out 9 over 5.1 innings. The Rangers got to him right off the bat, courtesy of a 3-run bomb to Adolis Garcia to nearly erase an early 4-0 lead the Blue Jays had given him in their first AB's. He was good enough to get a lot of swings and misses for nine strikeouts.
- Zack Pop had a rough outing, giving up a pair of runs on 3 hits when he took over 0.2 innings. Tim Mayza on the other hand was perfect, retiring all four batters he faced for his 1st save of the season.
- The Blue Jays jumped all over Rangers starter Kohei Arihara, striking 11 times on 12 hits and 5 walks over the first 3+ innings. There were unexpected heroes (Santiago Espinal with 3 RBI and a run scored, Danny Jansen with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI and Raimel Tapia with a 3-run bomb.) In fact, the three aforementioned players were a combined 8-14 with 8RBI and 4 runs scored.
- Every Blue Jays starter reached base at least once and all but Matt Chapman had at least one hit
- In terms of the WC race, the Rays and Orioles both lost and the Mariners were leading late over the Braves. The Blue Jays are a half game back of the Rays for the top WC spot and a game ahead of the Mariners for the 3rd WC spot (if the Mariners score holds, the Blue Jays would be a half game ahead of the Mariners).
- Up next, the Blue Jays try for their 6th series sweep of the season and 4th straight win overall. It will be a bullpen day for the Blue Jays with Trevor Richards as the opener. The Rangers will counter with lefty Martin Perez
