Cavan Biggio leads Blue Jays to win over Cleveland in series opener

Things worth mentioning…

• A rookie named Gavin Williams took the mound for Cleveland and dominated the Blue Jays over seven shutout innings. He allowed just a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and issued one walk and struck out 12 batters. For whatever reason, the Guardians pulled Williams after just 90 pitches and Toronto got two innings against Cleveland’s bullpen.
• The Blue Jays broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the eighth inning. Daulton Varsho smacked a single into right field and then Cavan Biggio came to the plate and hit a two-run homer. In the bottom of the inning, Biggio again came up big for the Blue Jays, this time defensively. Brayan Rocchio, Myles Straw, and Bo Naylor hit back-to-back-to-back singles to make the score 2-1 with runners on first and second. Next up, Steven Kwan came up and hit a ground ball to Biggio who turned an unassisted double play. It was quite the game for Biggio.

• The Blue Jays held Cleveland to just one run despite losing Hyun Jin Ryu to injury in the fourth inning. Ryu was tossing a gem but injured himself after fielding a ball that had drilled him in the knee. Ryu threw four scoreless frames with one walk and two strikeouts. It’s a shame his night came to an end early because that was vintage Ryu on the mound.
• The bullpen came up huge for the Blue Jays after Ryu came out of the game. Jay Jackson, Genesis Cabrera, and Erik Swanson tossed scoreless innings before Yimi Garcia and Tim Mayza allowed a run in the eighth. Jordan Hicks came into the game in the ninth inning and managed to pick up the save despite clearly not having his best command.
• Next up, Yusei Kikuchi will take the mound as the Blue Jays look to build on their four-game winning streak. Cleveland will counter with another rookie pitcher, Tanner Bibee. The righty has a 3.14 ERA over his first 17 starts in the big leagues.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO