Excellent pitching leads to a much-needed win in Boston

Things worth mentioning…

• Chase Anderson finally made his Blue Jays debut after missing the start of the season due to an injury suffered in Summer Camp. It was difficult to say coming off an injury in a short season whether Anderson would fit best in the team’s rotation or the bullpen, but, on Saturday, he looked like a perfectly solid back-of-the-rotation option. Anderson didn’t over match anyone, but he pitched effectively and limited hard contact over three innings of one-run ball. It’ll be interesting to see how he does as he gets stretched out and pitches longer outings.
• The big story tonight wasn’t Anderson, though, it was Anthony Kay, who put up a dominant showing as the piggyback long-reliever. Kay went three-and-a-third without allowing a run, scattering just two hits while also working around a few defensive gaffes. He also picked up three strikeouts, including two that came on heaters that reached 96 miles-per-hour. We’ve never seen Kay throw the ball that hard, as his average fastball sits around 93 miles-per-hour. Through eight innings this season, Kay has allowed just one earned run.

• As good as the pitching was, the offence still wasn’t anywhere to be found. To be fair, the Blue Jays managed quite a few hard-hit balls, but the Red Sox defence in the outfield got in the way (Kevin Pillar, naturally, made a great grab to rob Rowdy Tellez of what surely would have been an RBI double). But still, last night was another showing of runners being stranded left, right, and centre. Scoring two runs when Zack Godley, a guy who was released by the Detroit Tigers of all teams, gets the start isn’t a good look.
• If there was one positive to draw from the offence on Saturday, it was Bo Bichette, who very much looked like the game-changer he was during his rookie season. Bichette had a couple of hits, a double and a single, and he could have had another one if not for a nice grab in the outfield by Alex Verdugo. Bichette smashed the ball hard three times, hitting it 107.5, 97.7, and 89.3 miles-per-hour. He also drew his first walk of 2020. This is the Bo Bichette the Blue Jays need at the top of their lineup in order to be successful.
• Another thing… Rowdy Tellez had a horrible gaffe on the bases in the third inning when he got picked off sort of casually wandering to second base before Godley had really started his windup. This play was especially noticeable given all of the Blue Jays’ mental errors on the bases last night. Charlie Montoyo talked to Tellez about it in the dugout, but, from our vantage point on the broadcast, Tellez didn’t look overly concerned about what the manager was saying. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not worth reading too much into. But making gaffes like this on back-to-back nights is weird.
• Of course, since I’ve been so critical of Montoyo this season, I should point out that Saturday’s bullpen management was excellent. He gave Kay an opportunity to pitch deeper than just a couple of innings, which allowed Jordan Romano and Anthony Bass to pitch in their ideal spots in the eighth and ninth innings. It was a very well-executed Tampa Bay Rays-style pitching performance.