Looking to leave their Californian troubles behind, the Blue Jays headed to Texas this weekend to face off against the underwhelming Rangers (16-16), who sent the trio of Lance Lynn, Drew Smyly, and Mike Minor to the mound in what quickly became one of the most exciting (and then un-exciting) series of the season.
Though they left town with a series loss, the games provided ample bits of amusing baseball, including the team’s first position player on the mound this season. Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from this weekend’s tilts at Globe Life Park:
The Good
Eric Sogard (4-for-10, HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB) remains one of baseball’s hottest hitters, while Randal Grichuk (4-for-11, 2B, 2 BB) and Rowdy Tellez (4-for-13, RBI, 4 TB) were also steady contributors at the plate. Billy McKinney (3-for-5, BB, R) had himself a quietly good set.
On the mound, Trent Thornton (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 SO) was surprisingly dominant, as was Tim Mayza (1.1 IP, SO, 1 H, 0 R). Ken Giles (1.0 IP, 3 SO, SV) continued his solid run, while Daniel Hudson (1.0 IP, H, BB, SO, 0 R) also turned in a solid inning, lowering his ERA to 3.68 on the season.
Sam Gaviglio (2.0 IP, 2 SO, 0 H, 0 R) continued to excel in big moments, while fellow relievers Ryan Tepera (2.0 IP, H, 2 BB, 0 R, SO) and Joe Biagini (1.1 IP, SO, 0 H, 0 R) pitched well in tight spots, with the former proving especially valuable in Friday’s marathon.
The Bad
Danny Jansen (1-for-7, SO) was shaky at the dish, despite dropping down the game-winning bunt in Friday night’s game, and Teoscar Hernandez (2-for-8, 3 SO) continued to struggle. Socrates Brito (1-for-5, 1 TB) had some subpar at-bats as well, with his only “hit” coming due to a ridiculous defensive miscue by Rangers first baseman Logan Forsythe.
Fresh off the plane from Buffalo, pitcher Derek Law (2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) was roughed up, while Elvis Luciano (2.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 H) also suffered a setback.  Thomas Pannone (2.1 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, 3 BB), starting his second game of the season, was also ambushed by the Rangers offence, earning his third loss of the campaign.
Clay Buchholz (4.0 IP, 7 ER, BB, L) faltered in the series finale, allowing eight hits and bringing his WHIP to 1.54 on the season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Luke Maile&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MLB</a> pitching debut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 ER. <a href="https://t.co/Ao44htPJKV">pic.twitter.com/Ao44htPJKV</a>
&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1125156217494441984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Weird
In Sunday afternoon’s 10-2 thrashing, the Blue Jays sent Luke Maile to the mound to pitch in his first ever major-league game! Throwing several slow sliders (and even a knuckleball to outfielder Delino DeShields), Maile got Shin-Soo Choo (a career .277/.379/.449 hitter) to strike out swinging.
Also, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earned his first career RBI Saturday, driving in Justin Smoak from second on a single. <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1124831420151750657">As Keegan Matheson of Baseball Toronto</a> ingeniously pointed out on Twitter, Smoak’s first career RBI (which came with the Rangers) scored Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Even more coincidental is that Smoak’s first career RBI came on a sacrifice fly caught by then-former Blue Jay Alex Rios and induced by then-future Blue Jay Mark Buehrle. Baseball.
Looking Ahead
The boys in blue (and white) will head back to Rogers Centre Monday to open up a three-game series against the 20-11 Twins, who’ll pit Martin Perez (4-0, 3.41 ERA, 30 SO), Jose Berrios (5-1, 2.91 ERA, 46 SO), and Kyle Gibson (2-1, 4.68 ERA, 29 SO) against Marcus Stroman (1-4, 2.20 ERA, 39 SO), Aaron Sanchez (3-2, 3.09 ERA, 29 SO), and Thornton.

Looking to leave their Californian troubles behind, the Blue Jays headed to Texas this weekend to face off against the underwhelming Rangers (16-16), who sent the trio of Lance Lynn, Drew Smyly, and Mike Minor to the mound in what quickly became one of the most exciting (and then un-exciting) series of the season.

Though they left town with a series loss, the games provided ample bits of amusing baseball, including the team’s first position player on the mound this season. Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from this weekend’s tilts at Globe Life Park:

The Good

Eric Sogard (4-for-10, HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB) remains one of baseball’s hottest hitters, while Randal Grichuk (4-for-11, 2B, 2 BB) and Rowdy Tellez (4-for-13, RBI, 4 TB) were also steady contributors at the plate. Billy McKinney (3-for-5, BB, R) had himself a quietly good set.

On the mound, Trent Thornton (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 SO) was surprisingly dominant, as was Tim Mayza (1.1 IP, SO, 1 H, 0 R). Ken Giles (1.0 IP, 3 SO, SV) continued his solid run, while Daniel Hudson (1.0 IP, H, BB, SO, 0 R) also turned in a solid inning, lowering his ERA to 3.68 on the season.

Sam Gaviglio (2.0 IP, 2 SO, 0 H, 0 R) continued to excel in big moments, while fellow relievers Ryan Tepera (2.0 IP, H, 2 BB, 0 R, SO) and Joe Biagini (1.1 IP, SO, 0 H, 0 R) pitched well in tight spots, with the former proving especially valuable in Friday’s marathon.

The Bad

Danny Jansen (1-for-7, SO) was shaky at the dish, despite dropping down the game-winning bunt in Friday night’s game, and Teoscar Hernandez (2-for-8, 3 SO) continued to struggle. Socrates Brito (1-for-5, 1 TB) had some subpar at-bats as well, with his only “hit” coming due to a ridiculous defensive miscue by Rangers first baseman Logan Forsythe.

Fresh off the plane from Buffalo, pitcher Derek Law (2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) was roughed up, while Elvis Luciano (2.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 H) also suffered a setback.  Thomas Pannone (2.1 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, 3 BB), starting his second game of the season, was also ambushed by the Rangers offence, earning his third loss of the campaign.

Clay Buchholz (4.0 IP, 7 ER, BB, L) faltered in the series finale, allowing eight hits and bringing his WHIP to 1.54 on the season.

https://twitter.com/bluejays/status/1125156217494441984?s=21

The Weird

In Sunday afternoon’s 10-2 thrashing, the Blue Jays sent Luke Maile to the mound to pitch in his first ever major-league game! Throwing several slow sliders (and even a knuckleball to outfielder Delino DeShields), Maile got Shin-Soo Choo (a career .277/.379/.449 hitter) to strike out swinging.

Also, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earned his first career RBI Saturday, driving in Justin Smoak from second on a single. <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1124831420151750657">As Keegan Matheson of Baseball Toronto</a> ingeniously pointed out on Twitter, Smoak’s first career RBI (which came with the Rangers) scored Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Even more coincidental is that Smoak’s first career RBI came on a sacrifice fly caught by then-former Blue Jay Alex Rios and induced by then-future Blue Jay Mark Buehrle. Baseball.

Looking Ahead

The boys in blue (and white) will head back to Rogers Centre Monday to open up a three-game series against the 20-11 Twins, who’ll pit Martin Perez (4-0, 3.41 ERA, 30 SO), Jose Berrios (5-1, 2.91 ERA, 46 SO), and Kyle Gibson (2-1, 4.68 ERA, 29 SO) against Marcus Stroman (1-4, 2.20 ERA, 39 SO), Aaron Sanchez (3-2, 3.09 ERA, 29 SO), and Thornton.

Blue Jays lose to Rangers in frantic three-game series

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