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| Blue Jays reliever Brayden Fisher retired every batter he faced in a 7-0 shutout loss to the Red Sox |
After pulling out another win thanks to a 5-run 8th inning rally and Louis Varland bailing out knuckleballer Matt Waldron, the Blue Jays were looking to extend the win streak to 4 games, complete their 2nd sweep of the season and improve their record on my birthday to 22-23 and extend the winning streak on my birthday to 2 games. Brendon Little was put on the paternity list and Lazaro Estrada was recalled from AAA-ball. Max Scherzer got the start with Brandon Valenzuela behind the plate. Kazuma Okamoto was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday. Charles McAdoo was in LF and Nathan Lukes was in RF. Could the Blue Jays extend the win streak to 4 games, complete their 2nd sweep of the season and improve their record on my birthday to 22-23 and extend the winning streak on my birthday to 2 games? Here is today's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Red Sox opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Willson Contreras doubled scoring Wilyer Abreu
- Max Scherzer pitching line: 5IP 3H 1R (earned) 2BB 4K 92 pitches (61 for strikes)
- The Red Sox added 4 runs in the top of the 8th on a grand slam to left-center by Caleb Durbin that also scored Ceddanne Rafaela, Abreu and Masataka Yoshida
- The Red Sox added a run in the top of the 9th on a sac fly by Yoshida that scored Nick Sogard
- A batter later, Durbin singled scoring Rafaela
- Payton Tolle pitching line: 8IP 2H 0R 2BB 4K 91 pitches (61 for strikes)
- Final score: Red Sox 7 Blue Jays 0
My Take:
- Max Scherzer battled through 5 innings, giving up a run on 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. Not the most efficient game, needing close to 100 pitches to get 15 outs when the bullpen is running on fumes. The veteran righty was able to pitch his way out of most of the jame he got into, keeping the Blue Jays within striking distance.
- Then there was the bullpen. Interestingly, John Schneider had Tyler Rogers warming up when the deficit was still one run and opted to go with the other sidewinder Chase Lee, who proceeded to give up a grand slam. Maybe Rogers was only available if the Blue Jays had a lead? Lazaro Estrada coughed up another couple of runs in the 9th inning. Certainly there are a couple of candidates to be demoted or DFA'd when Brendon Little returns from the paternity list and Paul Seward is activated tomorrow after being claimed off waivers yesterday.
- The offense was non-existent with some terrible AB's today. Charles McAdoo watched a middle-middle putch go by him for a strike and they did not work the count at all. Payton Tolle was averaging less than 10 pitches an inning most of the day.
- The Blue Jays squandered a great chance to gain a half game in the wild card standings with most of the teams in the race idle today. Instead, the Blue Jays fell back a half game.
- Brandon Valenzuela was 1-1 on ABS challenges. The Red Sox didn't atempt an ABS challenge today.
- The Blue Jays were 0-2 with runners in scoring position.
- Up next, the Blue Jays take on the Yankees as the home stand continues. The Yankees have won 4 of the first 7 games in the season series, outscoring the Blue Jays 29-26. Shane Bieber starts against Yankees righty Gerritt Cole
