Game Threat: Season Series Finale In Kansas City, Blue Jays (63-48) @ Royals (52-58)
By Cam Lewis
7 years agoA loss in Kansas City? That brings back some ugly memories. Hopefully a shit-stomping of garbage jack-wagon Yordano Ventura can make up for it!
Yesterday
For the first time in just under two months, Aaron Sanchez had a rough go of it yesterday. He pitched six innings, allowing four earned runs off of nine hits and one walk while striking out three. It was the first time he allowed more than two earned runs since he allowed six over five innings against Baltimore on June 12. It was also the first time he was saddled with a loss since all the way back on April 22 against Oakland.
And even though the results were poor, for his standards at least, Sanchez really wasn’t all that bad, and with some better luck, he easily could escaped a couple of jams and we would be having a conversation about how he looked like a cool, calm, and collected veteran on the mound.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because baseball is a game of inches and sequences, and the Kansas City Royals are the champions of inexplicably lucking their way to success. At least that’s what the golden lettering on the crest of their jerseys suggests.
After cruising through the first three innings with only one walk against, and stranding runners on second and third with one out in the fourth, Sanchez finally faltered in the fifth inning as the Royals broke through despite barely pushing the ball out of the infield.
Alex Gordon led off with a single to right, Paulo Orlando hit an infield single to short and beat the play with his speed, then Raul Mondesi put down a bunt and beat Russell Martin’s throw at first to load the bases. Immediately after, Alcides Escobar smacked one to third that just bounced off Josh Donaldson’s glove, scoring one run. After getting two outs on softly hit balls, Eric Hosmer awkwardly smacked a soft line drive into centre field, giving the Royals a 3-2 lead that they would ultimately hang on to for the win.
The Royals added an insurance run in the sixth inning, Danny Barnes pitched two solid scoreless innings in relief, and Kansas City’s bullpen was able to shut down Toronto’s stagnant offence. Save for a Devon Travis solo homer in the first and RBI single in the fifth, the Jays got virtually nothing going off of Danny Duffy, Peter Hoylan, and Kelvin Herrera.
As much as people seem to like pinning this on Justin Smoak and Melvin Upton combining for five strikeouts, the limp offence can largely be attributed to the fact Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, and Edwin Encarnacion combined to go zero-for-ten with a couple of walks.
Overall, it was a pretty forgettable game! And it was also the first time the Jays had lost to Kansas City since last October when… Actually, no, I’d rather not.
News and Scuttlebutt
The big news today as the announcement that the Yankees will release Alex Rodriguez after Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, which, more than likely, will put an end to his incredible, memorable, and controversial baseball career. Love him or hate him, there’s no doubt that A-Rod was a fucking incredible player, and most certainly deserves to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.
Of course, his most memorable moment involving the Blue Jays has to be the infamous “HA” thing with Howie Clark back in 2007, where he screamed “mine!” on a routine popup to the apparently very unaware Blue Jays third baseman. I mean, there’s certainly a reason that Rodriguez’s legacy will largely be one as baseball’s villain, and it’s not necessarily only because of the cheating.
Today
Blue Jays: Devon Travis 2B, Jose Bautista DH, Josh Donaldson 3B, Edwin Encarnacion 1B, Michael Saunders RF, Troy Tulowitzki SS, Melvin Upton CF, Josh Thole C, Darwin Barney LF
Marcus Stroman: 8-4, 4.74 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 1.293 WHIP, 9.4 H9, 2.3 BB9, 7.2 SO9
Royals: Alcides Escobar SS, Cheslor Cuthbert 3B, Lorenzo Cain RF, Eric Hosmer 1B, Kendrys Morales DH, Alex Gordon LF, Paulo Orlando CF, Drew Butera C, Raul Mondesi 2B
Yordano Ventura: 6-9, 4.83 ERA, 4.87 FIP, 1.383 WHIP, 8.7 H9, 3.8 BB9, 6.6 SO9
This fucking guy?! Yes, that’s exactly who. Yordano Ventura, the short-fused wannabe tough guy who intentionally whips balls at players whenever they light him up — which is often, because he’s fucking garbage — will pitch for the Royals today. This is also the guy who said something along the lines of Jose Bautista is a scrub or a whiner, fuck, I can’t remember. He’s an idiot, he’s garbage, and if there was ever a time for the bats to wake up from this period of hibernation, it would be now!
For the Jays, Marcus Stroman will get the start looking to build on what has been a pretty nice stretch for him recently. In his last time out against Houston on Monday, Stroman tossed probably his best game of the season, allowing only one earned run over eight innings while striking out 13. Earlier this summer, he had probably his second best start of the season against the Royals in Toronto, so, fuck yeah, let’s see something good today!
Also, this is the last time the Jays will face the Royals this season, so if there was a time for somebody stupid to do something stupid… It would be now. Remember Texas? I don’t think there’s all that much bad blood between these two teams, to be honest, but, hey, you never know.
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