Cursed day at The Trop as the Blue Jays lose the game and a pitcher to injury

Things worth mentioning…

• Trent Thornton got the start on short rest after getting lit up in the second leg of the doubleheader against the Phillies on Thursday. While Thornton’s outing went better than last time — he picked up a couple of strikeouts and allowed a couple of hits — he only lasted one inning. The Rays worked Thornton, making him toss 25 pitches to get through the first and he was pulled from the game with elbow inflammation. Not ideal!

• After Thornton, Anthony Kay came in and cruised through three innings. The Blue Jays carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning before the Rays finally did their thing. Kay started the bottom of the fifth but allowed a single and a walk. Ryan Borucki then came in to put out the fire, but he got tagged for a couple of singles, ultimately giving away the lead. It’s getting to the point where Toronto’s bullpen arms are clearly gassed. Borucki didn’t have the same zip on his pitches as he had had in earlier outings. This was his second rough go in a row now.
• The frustrating part about this was that the Jays had a chance to blow the game open in the fourth inning. They had the bases loaded with one out and Tampa Bay’s rookie starter on the ropes after issuing a couple of walks. Danny Jansen came up and popped out on the first pitch he saw and then Brandon Drury went up 2-0 and proceeded to ground out, ending the threat. And then in the following inning, the Jays again squandered an opportunity. Randal Grichuk hit a two-out double, bringing Vlad Jr. to the plate. He took two very hittable meatballs and then ended up, of course, grounding out to end the threat. Incredibly frustrating stuff.

• Anyways, I’ll end off on a positive, which is Teoscar Hernandez’s great day at the plate. Hernandez hit a solo bomb to kick things off in the second inning, which was his only hit of the day. But the impressive part wasn’t the dinger (which was his 10th (!!!) of the season), it was the fact he took walks in all three of his other at-bats. That’s something we never see from the free-swinging Hernandez, who had just four walks coming into the game.