The losing streak is finally over

Things worth mentioning…

• Taijuan Walker came up huge for the Blue Jays today. Outside of Hyun Jin Ryu, the team has had a hell of a time getting good outings from their starters, but Walker had perhaps his best start since joining the Blue Jays. He went six innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and two walks while picking up eight strikeouts. It was an especially gutsy performance given the fact it took him 25 pitches to work through the first inning.

• The Jays scored a couple of runs quickly off of rookie starter Adonis Medina in the first, but then he shut them down for three innings after that, making it look like this was going to be a one-run nailbiter. Fortunately, Jonathan Davis kicked things open with a two-run double in the sixth inning. This was one of the biggest swings of the Blue Jays’ season.

• In the seventh, Teoscar Hernandez extended the lead to 6-1 with a two-run homer, but, naturally, there was no room to relax. In the bottom of the inning, some absurd defence allowed the Phillies to crawl back into the game. Vlad Jr. made an error at first that allowed the leadoff man to reach, and then Thomas Hatch then allowed a single and a walk. Hatch struck out Bryce Harper with the bases loaded and then Alec Bohm hit a ball on the ground that Joe Panik would launch past Vlad at first. Two runs came in to score but Vlad managed to get Bohm out at second, which was huge because Didi Gregorius lined out to end the inning.
• Finally, in the eighth, Shun Yamaguchi came in and got two outs and then Anthony Badd came in and recorded the final four. It was long, stressful, and pretty ugly, but they got the job done. Now it’s back to Buffalo.