Yesssss. There we go. That was the kind of win we expected to see from this Jays team.
Things that were good
- Marcus Stroman was sooooooo good tonight. He went six-and-one-third innings, allowing one earned run on six hits, two walks, while striking out five. He recorded 19 outs in total, and 12 of them were on the ground. The Rays barely got any hard contact off of him throughout the game, which is a very, very good sign, because the Rays low-key have an excellent power hitting lineup.
- The Jays are very good at stopping the other team from scoring runs. Two years ago, the team had to score, like, nine runs to win games because their defence was shaky and their pitching was baaaaad. Now, as we saw tonight, they have great starters, strong relief, and very good defence all around the field. Josh Donaldson make a nice double play to get Marcus Stroman/Joe Biagini out of a jam in the seventh inning, and the infielders were automatic on all of Stroman’s ground balls.
- Kendrys Morales has driven in five of the Blue Jays’ eight runs this season, four of them coming on a monster grand slam off of Blake Snell. Morales crushed a pitch to the goddamn moon, I swear I thought it was going to burst through the roof at The Trop.
Things that were not good
- Uhhhhhh… It’s hard to come up with negatives when you win a game 5-1, so fuck it! That was a good game. Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki still aren’t hitting, well, nobody really is, as the team only actually got six hits, but whatever. The bats will come around, and this is a team build to succeed around its pitching and defence.
- The ninth inning was kiiiiind of stressful, but, it was all good.
Best #content
Tonight's #MillennialRecap:
Kendrys slam ???
The Trop ?
Stroman ????
Six hits? ??♂️
That ninth inning ????
Winning 5-2 ??— Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) April 7, 2017
Here's #Statcast with a visual of that Morales homer: pic.twitter.com/r4EWLZKto3
— Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) April 7, 2017
This gives me feels. pic.twitter.com/73DSz0GeDP
— Daryl (@ateDARYL) April 7, 2017
Hi, MLB atbat, I only have the Cubs and Blue Jays checked off. Stop sharing shit like this you motherfuckers. pic.twitter.com/kMK4BGk201
— lizziraptor ⚾️ (@lizsicle) April 7, 2017
Three hit game for pic.twitter.com/yfPoQtpxuX
— Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) April 7, 2017
Next up:
The Jays will play in Tampa again tomorrow night, as Francisco Liriano will make his season debut against Matt Andriese.
Tonight the Swine of the Game is the Tulo. Bumfart hitter.
brilliant insight and analysis
I do like that he specified he’s a bumfart hitter though. Otherwise I’d be sitting here thinking “Yeah, but what kind of fart though? Where’d he come from?”
Morales taking the iguana for a jog! Or something. C’mon, help me out with this.
In our house we just said he “Edwin’d the shit out of that baseball”… but that’s probably not a fair one to use long term.
Do you think we should yell “break a leg” to wish him good luck whenever he goes up to bat…?
TOO SOON
I wish I could remember the Fangraphs article, or the writer, or what is was about, or so many other things. But regardless, the article had the line, “He runs like he’s trying not to wake a baby,” which is an apt description of Morales.