Blue Jays bats finally warm up in a 5-1 win
8 months ago
On the night that the Toronto Maple Leafs (hopefully) lost to Tampa, the Toronto Blue Jays won 5-1.
It started off like most painful losses this season, the Jays had a glorious opportunity to jump on the starter with the bases loaded and one out in the first. Sadly, they only scored one run on a sacrifice fly from Santiago Espinal.
Ryu returned, and he gave up a solo shot to the first batter he faced, which led to this tweet:
Ryu’s return:
Despite giving up the solo homer, Ryu settled down and pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four hits, a single walk and striking out three. With his performance, he has dropped his season ERA to 9. Hopefully he builds off this outing.
The bats finally breakthrough:
It took a while, but the Jays bats finally started to heat up a little bit. Tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth, Teoscar Hernandez led off and hit his first homer since coming off the IL.
Espinal, who is having one of the better seasons for a second baseman in the MLB, then hit a single. Collins grounded out, but Espinal reached third on a throwing error by former Jays prospect, Harold Ramirez.
Gurriel knocked in Espinal with a single and Zimmer was brought in to pinch run (and later moved to the outfield). This was a moot point, as the returning Danny Jansen obliterated the ball for a 2 run shot. This made the game 5-1, a lead in which the Jays never relinquished.
Speaking about Danny Jansen:
Well, the 27-year-old catcher made me eat my words. I’ve said before that Jansen and Hernandez back in the lineup wouldn’t improve the hitting nearly as much as people thought. Yes, Jansen got off to a hot start, but we’ve seen how hot and cold he has been before.
With the swing of the bat, I was proven wrong. Maybe Jansen is what this team needs, because he’s now hit three homers in just four games.
While Alejandro Kirk has filled in well defensively, the team will now be able to rest him with the defense at the catcher position being compromised.
Other notes:
Chapman led off for the first time in his career, finishing 0-5 with a strikeout. This doesn’t tell the whole story, as if not for the deadened balls, he’d likely have a homer. He also hit a ball to the gap, but was robbed of a base hit when Rays’ right fielder Brujan made a pretty nice catch.
Vlad now has an 11 game hit streak. He hasn’t performed to his 2021 levels… yet, but the fact he continues to hit the ball night in and night out is an encouraging sign that he’ll break the “slump”.
The bullpen also pitched well. In 4.1 innings, they allowed only 2 hits, a walk and struck out four. This will help them drop their AL East worst bullpen ERA.
Minor League notes:
The Dunedin Blue Jays won 1-0, but holy hell, did their pitching staff ever impress tonight.
The returning Nick Frasso went 3 IP, allowing 1, no walks, no earned runs and had eight strikeouts. This is a fantastic sign, as the 23-year-old is returning from Tommy John surgery.
Dahian Santos followed that up, pitching four innings of shutout ball, allowing a single hit, three walks and ten strikeouts. The 19-year-old righty is certainly a prospect to keep an eye on.
Lastly, Braden Scott, an undrafted free agent, pitched the final two innings, allowing no hits, walking two and striking out six.
In total, 24 of the 27 outs were strikeouts for the Baby Jays tonight, an absolutely absurd number.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D. If you don’t, I do a nightly roundup of the minor league games, focusing on my top prospects as well as prospects you should keep an eye on.
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