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| Ernie Clement scored a run and drove in a run in a 7-4 loss to the Phillies |
After a walk off win thanks to some smart baseball and a clutch hit from Brandon Valenzuela, the Blue Jays were looking to extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 10th series win of the season. Max Scherzer was activated off the 15-day IL and Connor Seabold was DFA'd. Scherzer got the start with Valenzuela behind the plate. Yohendrick Pinago was in LF, Myles Straw was in CF and Nathan Lukes was in RF. Vlad was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday (George Springer served as DH today). Ernie Clement was at SS and Charles McAdoo got the start at 2B. Could the Blue Jays extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 10th series win of the season? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- Max Scherzer notched his 3500th career strikeout in the top of the 1st.
- Two batters later, Bryce Harper whacked a solo blast to the opposite field in left and into the Blue Jays bullpen to open the scoring.
- The Phillies added 3 runs in the top of the 3rd as Alec Bohm drilled a 3-run blast to left-center; also scoring Kyle Schwarber and Harper
- The Phillies added a pair of runs in the top of the 4th as Schwarber belted a 2-run jack to right-center; also scoring Justin Crawford
- Max Scherzer pitching line: 3.1IP 5H 5R (all earned) 3BB 4K 82 pitches (51 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got one back in the botttom of the 6th as Brandon Valenzuela singled scoring Ernie Clement. Phillies 3B Adolis Garcia was charged with a throwing error on the play
- Jesus Luzardo pitching line: 5.2IP 4H 1R (earned) 4BB 8K 96 pitches (56 for strikes)
- The Phillies added a run in the top of the 7th as Bryson Stott singled scoring Harper
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom half of the inning on a bases loaded walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that forced in Myles Straw
- A batter later, Nathan Lukes scored on a sac fly by Clement
- A batter after that, George Springer scored on a sac fly Kazuma Okamoto
- Jhoan Duran threw a scoreless 9th for his 17th save of the season
- Final score: Phillies 7 Blue Jays 4
- Max Scherzer was lit up for 5 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4 over 3.1 innings. He started out by finally collecting his 3500th career strikeouts. However, he was quite inefficient and just not locating his pitches. The Phillies took him deep twice for 4 runs. At 41 years old, Scherzer is significantly less effective than he was last year when he did a decent job in the second half of the season. I think he'll get at least one more start and a shot at moving into the top 10 in career strikeouts (he's just 6 strikeouts shy of tying Walter Johnson, who had 3509 career strikeouts) since Shane Bieber will need 2-3 more rehab starts before he's ready to join the rotation. At the very least, he can be a good mentor for some of the young pitchers on the staff and rookie catcher Brandon Valenzuela
- The bullpen gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5 over the last 5.2 innings. Spencer Miles retired every batter he faced.
- The offence rallied for 3 runs in the 7th on a bases loaded walk and a pair of sac flies and Brandon Valenzuela singled home a run. The veterans were a tad more productive today with Vlad and George Springer both getting on base 3 times via a pair of walks and a hit, but they need to do more
- Every Blue Jays starter except Yohendrick Pinago and Charles McAdoo reached base at least one and all but Pinago, McAdoo and Kazuma Okamoto had a hit
- Phillies catcher JT Realmuto succesfully overturned the only 2 ABS challenges on the day
- The Blue Jays were 1-6 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, after an off-day tomorrow, the Blue Jays continue the home stand as they welcome the Yankees to town. The two teams split the 4 games in NY last month with the Blue Jays outscoring the Yankees 14-13. The Yankees will start lefty Ryan Weathers. The Blue Jays haven't set their rotation for the series yet.
