Things worth mentioning…

• Sam Gaviglio got the start and sixth-starter/part-time comedian Joe Biagini was listed as one of the bullpen arms, hopefully signaling the end of the starter experiment. Going into the game, you had the thought that if Sammy G could look like how he did against Oakland, he’d be a serious candidate for SP6 on a completely healthy team. For a fifth starter, Gaviglio pitched a gem in Philly tonight. For a member of the Blue Jays rotation, that was an outing that I’m going to be telling my kids about. Until now, I didn’t know that a starting pitcher not named JA Happ could give you six strong innings and only allow three hits and three earned runs while striking out six. Oh, he hit a double, too. In all seriousness, Gaviglio was on pretty much all night. He gave up a double and then a homer with two outs in the sixth, which made his line fall from stellar to just really good. It’s safe to say that he’s earned himself a few more starts.
• Every Blue Jays starter except Gio Urshela tonight recorded a hit and Justin Smoak, Teoscar Hernandez, and Yangervis Solarte, the 3-5 hitters, combined for six.
• Tyler Clippard pitched again and struggled, giving up another earned run. Seung-hwan Oh, however, didn’t. It’s amazing that the guy nicknamed the Final Boss with a 9.75 K/9 rate still hasn’t gotten his chance to save games. #clOHser
• Does anybody remember that Price is Right game Cliff Hangers? If you don’t, the point of the game is this: you guess the price of a random item in front of you, and by every dollar you’re off, this little guy climbs higher and higher up the cliff. If he’s still on the mountain after you’ve guessed the price of three items, you win something. It was a cool game, mainly due to some clueless people having no idea what shit’s worth. There was something fun about watching in horror as that poor fuck began his out of control ascent up the mountain before fell over the edge to his death. The ninth inning of tonight’s game felt a lot like that, but instead of winning a dining room set or whatever, you had your own sanity on the line. Oh, and the inevitable existential crisis that comes with watching this team as you wonder why you care so much about random strangers playing a game. The Blue Jays went into the final inning up by two with Ryan Tepera getting a crack at closing out a game. He got Scott Kingery to fly out to start the inning, then gave up a single, double, wild pitch, and two walks. After all that went down in the past few weeks, I’m amazed that he was able to get Rhys Hoskins and Odubel Herrera out to preserve a rocky save. We can all breathe easier until, well, tomorrow when this team will find a new way to stress us out.