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| George Springer hit a grand slam and scored three times in a 10-6 win over the Guardians |
After an off-day/travel day yesterday, the Blue Jays opened a week-long road trip that began in Cleveland tonight. The Guardians won the series in Toronto back at the beginning of May, outscoring the Blue Jays 13-12. Eric Lauer got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing Sunday (George Springer served as DH tonight). Davis Schneider was in LF and Jonatan Clase was in RF. Ernie Clement was at the hot corner. Could the Blue Jays start the week and road trip with a win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Ernie Clement doubled scoring Bo Bichette
- Two batters later, Alejandro Kirk singled home Clement
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 4th on a fielding error by Guardians RF Johnathan Rodriguez on a ball hit by Myles Straw that scored George Springer
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 5th as Kirk singled scoring Clement
- LT Allen pitching line: 5.2IP 8H 4R (3 earned) 2BB 4K 104 pitches (70 for strikes)
- The Gaurdians got one back in the bottom of the 6th as Carlos Santana whacked a solo blast to left-center
- Eric Lauer pitching line: 5.1IP 5H 1R (earned) 3BB 5K 86 pitches (57 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the top of the 7th as Jonatan Clase singled scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Springer
- The Guardians got three back in the bottom half of the inning as Lane Thomas belted a 3-run jack to left; also scoring Rodriguez and Steven Kwan
- The Blue Jays added 3 runs in the top of the 8th as Springer hammered a grand slam to left-center; also scoring Clement, Guerrero Jr. and Kirk
- The Guardians got one back in the bottom half of the inning on a sac fly by Nolan Jones that scored Santana\
- The Gaurdians got one back in the bottom of the 9th as Kyle Manzandro whacked a solo blast to the opposite field in left
- Final score: Blue Jays 10 Guardians 6
My Take:
- Eric Lauer threw 5.1 solid innings, giving up a run on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5. To me, he has earned the right to stay in the rotation the rest of the season. The Blue Jays need a starter that can pitch into the 6th inning or later consistently. They can't keep going back to the well and having bullpen days every few days. Who knows how much Max Scherzer will be able to contribute tomorrow and the remainder of the season? It's not great that they had to push back a side session after he experienced more soreness than expected on the weekend. Bowden Francis has been having a rough season and needs to get healthy before he'll pitch again. Spencer Turnbull looked shaky in his last start and none of the other relievers are built up to pitch more than a couple of innings max. Alek Manoah won't be ready to pitch until August if all goes well and the same goes for Rickey Tiederman,
- The bullpen gave up 5 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks over the last 3.1innings. Chad Green continues to struggle with keeping the ball in the ballpark. He gave up his 10th home run of the season. Lefty Mason Fluharty has just been struggling lately. He walked 2 of the 3 batters he faced and both those runners came around to score. Braydon Fisher was the only reliever to retire every batter he faced.
- The offence came through in a big way, scoring 10 runs on 14 hits, 5 walks and a fielding error. George Springer (grand slam, 3 runs scored), Ernie Clement (3 runs scored, RBI single), Jonatan Clase (2-run double), Alejandro Kirk (2RBI, run scored), and Vlad (2 runs scored) led the way.
- The Blue Jays were 4-14 with runners in scoring position.
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 13th series win of the season. Max Scherzer starts against Guardians righty Gavin Williams
