<p>I wrote yesterday that it&#8217;s critical for the Blue Jays to do well during this stretch of games against bad teams over the next couple of weeks because the schedule gets much more difficult in September.</p>
<p></p>
<p>On Tuesday, the Jays had a prime chance to start their series with the Red Sox off on a positive note. Boston had a struggling rookie starter on the mound but Toronto failed to capitalize, leading to an incredibly frustrating loss.</p>
<h2><strong>Things worth mentioning&#8230;</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Things started off really well as the Jays kicked Kyle Hart around for four runs in the first inning. It looked like it was going to be a laugher in the second inning when the Jays loaded the bases with just one out but a Vlad Jr. double play ended the inning and cost the team a huge inning. That would eventually come back to haunt them because as bad as Boston has been this year, they can still hit.</li>
<li>Before I get into the meltdown, I&#8217;ll mention the infuriating strike zone last night. Hart was all over the grid, but got the benefit of the doubt from the home plate umpire, who called strikes on a handful of pitches outside the zone.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-50410" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM.png" alt="" width="818" height="824" srcset="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM.png 818w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM-298x300.png 298w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM-150x150.png 150w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM-768x774.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px" /></p>
<ul>
<li>You obviously never like to sit there and whine about balls and strikes because it generally all tends to even out, but this strike zone was particularly infuriating because of the role it played in Boston&#8217;s big inning. The Jays came into the sixth inning with a 6-3 lead. Given how exhausted the bullpen is, Charlie Montoyo opted to keep Chase Anderson in the game. He walked the leadoff batter and was subsequently pulled in favour of Wilmer Font. The first batter Font faced was Christian Vasquez. It looked like Font had caught Vasquez looking, but the pitch was called a ball. Vasquez would foul the next pitch off and then crush a double to centre field.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-50411" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM-1024x760.png" alt="" width="1024" height="760" srcset="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM-1024x760.png 1024w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM-300x223.png 300w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM-768x570.png 768w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM.png 1210w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<ul>
<li>Of course, Font&#8217;s meltdown is on him, not the umpire, but that certainly doesn&#8217;t help. The worst part of Font&#8217;s outing came a few batters later when he plunked Jose Peraza up 0-2 in the count. The Sox would pile on six runs in the sixth and the Jays weren&#8217;t able to recover, ultimately dropping the game 9-7.</li>
<li>Another note from the game&#8230; Travis Shaw was removed between the second and third innings with knee discomfort. Shaw hasn&#8217;t been amazing this year, but losing him would obviously be a big blow because it would mean seeing more of Brandon Drury, who now owns a whopping 0.358 OPS. Given how bad Drury has been, we might see Vlad shift back to third if Shaw is out for any length of time.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">A couple days ago, Vlad Guerrero Jr.  started taking some ground balls at third base. Montoyo maintained Vlad is their first baseman but if he can stay sharp at third, it gives the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a> manager some options in case of injury or lineup juggling</p>
<p>&mdash; Kaitlyn McGrath (@kaitlyncmcgrath) <a href="https://twitter.com/kaitlyncmcgrath/status/1298347089844371457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>

I wrote yesterday that it's critical for the Blue Jays to do well during this stretch of games against bad teams over the next couple of weeks because the schedule gets much more difficult in September.



On Tuesday, the Jays had a prime chance to start their series with the Red Sox off on a positive note. Boston had a struggling rookie starter on the mound but Toronto failed to capitalize, leading to an incredibly frustrating loss.
<h2><strong>Things worth mentioning...</strong></h2>
<ul>
 	<li>Things started off really well as the Jays kicked Kyle Hart around for four runs in the first inning. It looked like it was going to be a laugher in the second inning when the Jays loaded the bases with just one out but a Vlad Jr. double play ended the inning and cost the team a huge inning. That would eventually come back to haunt them because as bad as Boston has been this year, they can still hit.</li>
 	<li>Before I get into the meltdown, I'll mention the infuriating strike zone last night. Hart was all over the grid, but got the benefit of the doubt from the home plate umpire, who called strikes on a handful of pitches outside the zone.</li>
</ul>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-50410" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.28.38-AM.png" alt="" width="818" height="824" />
<ul>
 	<li>You obviously never like to sit there and whine about balls and strikes because it generally all tends to even out, but this strike zone was particularly infuriating because of the role it played in Boston's big inning. The Jays came into the sixth inning with a 6-3 lead. Given how exhausted the bullpen is, Charlie Montoyo opted to keep Chase Anderson in the game. He walked the leadoff batter and was subsequently pulled in favour of Wilmer Font. The first batter Font faced was Christian Vasquez. It looked like Font had caught Vasquez looking, but the pitch was called a ball. Vasquez would foul the next pitch off and then crush a double to centre field.</li>
</ul>
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-50411" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-26-at-11.31.08-AM-1024x760.png" alt="" width="1024" height="760" />
<ul>
 	<li>Of course, Font's meltdown is on him, not the umpire, but that certainly doesn't help. The worst part of Font's outing came a few batters later when he plunked Jose Peraza up 0-2 in the count. The Sox would pile on six runs in the sixth and the Jays weren't able to recover, ultimately dropping the game 9-7.</li>
 	<li>Another note from the game... Travis Shaw was removed between the second and third innings with knee discomfort. Shaw hasn't been amazing this year, but losing him would obviously be a big blow because it would mean seeing more of Brandon Drury, who now owns a whopping 0.358 OPS. Given how bad Drury has been, we might see Vlad shift back to third if Shaw is out for any length of time.</li>
</ul>
https://twitter.com/kaitlyncmcgrath/status/1298347089844371457?s=20

A sixth-inning meltdown costs the Blue Jays a winnable game

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