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| Alejandro Kirk drove in the winning run in a huge 7-6 extra innings comeback wim over the Red Sox |
After a brutal loss yesterday thanks to a very rough start by Bowden Francis, the Blue Jays were looking to snap the 3-game skid. Casey Lawrence was DFA'd after a rough appearance yesterday. Lefty Eric Lauer was recalled from AAA-ball. Yariel Rodriguez got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. George Springer was in LF after the half day off as DH yesterday (Anthony Santander served as DH tonight). Addison Barger got the start in RF. Could the Blue Jays snap the 3-game skid? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Red Sox opened the scoring in the top of the 1st on a balk by Yariel Rodriguez that scored Rafael Devers
- Same batter, Alex Bregman hammered a solo bomb to the 2nd deck in left
- Yariel Rodriguez pitching line: 1IP 2H 2R (both earned) 2BB 1K 29 pitches (16 for strikes)
- The Red Sox added a run in the top of the 3rd as Jarren Duran singled scoring Ceddanne Rafaela
- A batter later, Devers doubled home Duran
- Hitting coach David Popkins was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the bottom of the 4th
- The Red Sox added a pair of runs in the top of the 6th as Carlos Narvaez hammered a 2-run bomb to left-center; also scoring Rafaela
- The Blue Jays got a pair back in the bottom half of the inning as Daulton Varsho belted a 2-run jack in the bottom half of the inning; also scoring George Springer
- A batter later, Alejandro Kirk smashed a solo blast to left-center
- Lucas Giolito pitching line: 6IP 5H 3R (all earned) 2BB 7K 90 pitches (61 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays tied ir up in the bottom of the 7th as Anthony Santander belted a 3-run jack to right and into the Red Sox bullpen; also scoring Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- The Blue Jays walked it off in the bottom of the 10th as Alejandro Kirk singled home Guerrero Jr.
- Final score: Blue Jays 7 Red Sox 6 (10 innings)
My Take:
- It was definitely not an ideal start for Yariel Rodriguez, who was picked to be the opener. Rodriguez threw behind a batter, balked in the 1st run and promptly was taken deep on the same batter. Starting and relieving are two different entities and pitchers pretty much need two different mentalities. There are pitchers who have done both, most infamously sidewinder Dennis Eckersley. He won his Cy Young as a full-time reliever. He was 4th in Cy Young voting in 1978 as a starter. Relievers and starters prepare differently both physically and mentally. Starting pitchers know they will start every 5th day and relievers have set roles and pitch on back to back days for shorter durations. This spot in the rotation is something that needs to be addressed because Max Scherzer is going to be out several weeks and Alek Manoah and Rickey Tiederman will not be ready until after the all-star break.
- For the remainder of the bullpen, it was mixed results. For 5 innings, Eric Laurier and Chad Green combined to give up 4 runs on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. Yimi Garcia, Brandon Litlle and Jeff Hoffman, who was credited with the win, threw up a brick wall, limiting the Bosox to just one hit, walked none and struck out 6 batters. It might have been a different result if the game went a further inning though, since most of the relievers had already pitched and the bullpen was needed for 6 innings yesterday.
- The bats struck in a big way over 2 innings. Daulton Varsho got things started with a 2-run HR. Alejandro Kirk, who also drove in the winning run, followed him up with his own solo HR. Anthony Santander tied it with a 3-run bomb in the 7th. Maybe the team was inspired by Daulton Varsho's effort or maybe they were fired up by David Popkins standing up for them and the bad umping. Either way, great comeback.
- The Blue Jays were 2-7 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the Blue Jays try for their 2nd straight win and 4th series win of the season. Ace Jose Berrios starts against Red Sox righty Tanner Houck
