Daulton Varsho sends one 427 feet to give the @BlueJays the lead 🚀
Blue Jays hit four home runs, but fell 10-9 in the series opener against the Phillies
Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro - USA Today
Sep 3, 2024, 22:45 EDTUpdated: Sep 3, 2024, 23:11 EDT
Another day, another blown opportunity for the Blue Jays to pick up a win.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays fell 10-9 to the Philadelphia Phillies, bringing their season record to 67-73. There’s some good in this game, as the Jays hit four home runs in this game. Two of those came in the first inning, as Daulton Varsho hit his 18th home run of the season and Addison Barger hit his seventh of the season. After the first inning, the Jays had a 6-1 lead.
The Phillies would chip away at the lead, scoring two runs in the top of the third and one in the top of the fourth, making it 6-4. However, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 28th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to give Toronto an 8-4 lead.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits a laser for his 28th home run!
Unfortunately, the wheels fell off from there. Zach Pop started the top of the seventh, allowing two of the three batters to reach. Erik Swanson replaced him and walked the next two batters and the Phillies eventually scored three runs in the inning.
The Jays still had an 8-7 lead heading into the top of the ninth, but Chad Green allowed a Kyle Schwarber home run that scored three runs, giving the Phillies a 10-8 lead. Leo Jiménez hit his fourth home run in the bottom half of the inning, giving up the final score of 10-9.
Diving into the stats…
How hasn’t Vladimir Guerrero Jr. been paid yet? On Tuesday, he went 4-5 with a home run and a double, bringing his wRC+ all the way up to 171. For context, that’s better than his MVP-calibre season in 2021, where he had a 167 wRC+. Pay. Him.
Leo Jiménez continued to build on his career-high in home runs when accounting for his Triple-A stats. Tuesday’s home run was his fourth of the season with the Jays, giving him a career-best 11 for the season. For a prospect with minimal power heading into 2022, he’s started to find some the past three seasons.
Addison Barger deserves a spot on the 2025 Blue Jays. On top of his seventh home run of the season, he turned a terrific double play, beating the runner to second base before showcasing his cannon of an arm. The overall stats aren’t great, but he had a 121 wRC+ coming into this game since his last promotion.
Pitching wasn’t great, more specifically, the bullpen. Brendon Little pitched two thirds of an inning of scoreless baseball, and Génesis Cabrera pitched an inning and a third with two walks and two hits allowed, but didn’t give up an earned run. However, Zach Pop, Erik Swanson, and Chad Green all allowed runs, while Ryan Burr allowed a hit in his third of an inning pitched.
As for Chris Bassitt who started this game, he finished with a line of 5.1 IP, 10 H, 3 ER (4 R), 2 BB, 7 K to bring his season ERA to 4.30. This was really a winnable game.
The Jays play the second and final game tomorrow against the Phillies at 3:07 PM, with Bowden Francis pitching for Toronto.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.