After a confusingly mediocre first series against the Detroit Tigers, the Blue Jays hoped to bounce back against the cellar-dwelling Baltimore Orioles in a mid-week three-game tilt at Rogers Centre.
Unfortunately for them, the Orioles, boasting the suddenly superhuman arms of David Hess and Andrew Cashner, deadened the Blue Jays’ bats and were able to narrowly generate enough offense to win the series, improving their record to 4-2. Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from the season’s second series:
The Good
Continuing their streaks of dominance, starters Marcus Stroman (5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 SO) and Matt Shoemaker (7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 7 SO) turned out stellar performances in their second outings. Thus far, the two of them have combined to throw 26.2 innings and have allowed just two earned runs on 15 hits, striking out 27.
In the pen, Thomas Pannone (4.0 IP, 1 H, 5 SO, 0 ER) was incredible in an elongated relief outing, while Sam Gaviglio (3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 SO), Ken Giles (0.2 IP, SV, 2 SO), and Javy Guerra (1.0 IP, 2 SO, 1 H, 0 ER) all turned in solid performances throughout the series. Joe Biagini also stayed hot, tossing a scoreless inning Wednesday, earning the hold.
The newly extended Randal Grichuk had an amazing series at the plate, smashing three home runs and adding two doubles in nine at-bats to bring his OPS to an otherworldly 1.095.
Richard Ureña (2-for-6) and Luke Maile (2-for-3, 2B) contributed nicely in support of the big bats, with Rowdy Tellez (3-for-10, HR) also aiding in the power department.
The Bad
Sean Reid-Foley, appearing in his first game of the season, was dreadful, allowing three earned runs in two innings, walking two and striking out three. Having surrendered four hits to one of the league’s worst offenses, he also threw two wild pitches, one less than he threw in 33.1 innings last year.
In the bullpen, Daniel Hudson (1.1 IP, 3 ER, 2.72 WHIP) struggled mightily, while Tim Mayza (1.1 IP, SO, 0 ER), also looked a tad shaky in limited innings.
With the bats, Danny Jansen (0-for-6, SO) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2-for-8, SO) continued to falter; the two of them have gone a combined 4-for-37 through the first seven games of the season.
Rounding out the awful numbers, the Blue Jays, in a stunningly depressing statistic, have slashed a collective .182/.251/.307 thus far, sitting in the bottom six in each of those categories.
The Weird
Even though many expected the paid attendance to fall after last week’s Opening Series, it would’ve been difficult to predict numbers as extremely low as 14,391, 12,110, and 11,436. <a href="https://twitter.com/gregorMLB/status/1112891729286295552">According to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm</a>, Monday’s actual attendance of 10,460 was the smallest crowd since April 19, 2010.
Looking Ahead
The Blue Jays fly to Cleveland to kick off a four-game set against the Tribe Thursday. While the Indians, one of the most enigmatic teams in the American League, have gotten off to a rocky start (2-3), they appear poised to bounce back.
Aaron Sanchez (0.00 ERA) is scheduled to go up against Trevor Bauer (1.29 ERA) in Game 1, while youngsters Trent Thornton (0.00 ERA) and Shane Bieber are set to square off in Friday’s Game 2.

After a confusingly mediocre first series against the Detroit Tigers, the Blue Jays hoped to bounce back against the cellar-dwelling Baltimore Orioles in a mid-week three-game tilt at Rogers Centre.

Unfortunately for them, the Orioles, boasting the suddenly superhuman arms of David Hess and Andrew Cashner, deadened the Blue Jays’ bats and were able to narrowly generate enough offense to win the series, improving their record to 4-2. Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from the season’s second series:

The Good

Continuing their streaks of dominance, starters Marcus Stroman (5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 SO) and Matt Shoemaker (7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 7 SO) turned out stellar performances in their second outings. Thus far, the two of them have combined to throw 26.2 innings and have allowed just two earned runs on 15 hits, striking out 27.

In the pen, Thomas Pannone (4.0 IP, 1 H, 5 SO, 0 ER) was incredible in an elongated relief outing, while Sam Gaviglio (3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 SO), Ken Giles (0.2 IP, SV, 2 SO), and Javy Guerra (1.0 IP, 2 SO, 1 H, 0 ER) all turned in solid performances throughout the series. Joe Biagini also stayed hot, tossing a scoreless inning Wednesday, earning the hold.

The newly extended Randal Grichuk had an amazing series at the plate, smashing three home runs and adding two doubles in nine at-bats to bring his OPS to an otherworldly 1.095.

Richard Ureña (2-for-6) and Luke Maile (2-for-3, 2B) contributed nicely in support of the big bats, with Rowdy Tellez (3-for-10, HR) also aiding in the power department.

The Bad

Sean Reid-Foley, appearing in his first game of the season, was dreadful, allowing three earned runs in two innings, walking two and striking out three. Having surrendered four hits to one of the league’s worst offenses, he also threw two wild pitches, one less than he threw in 33.1 innings last year.

In the bullpen, Daniel Hudson (1.1 IP, 3 ER, 2.72 WHIP) struggled mightily, while Tim Mayza (1.1 IP, SO, 0 ER), also looked a tad shaky in limited innings.

With the bats, Danny Jansen (0-for-6, SO) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2-for-8, SO) continued to falter; the two of them have gone a combined 4-for-37 through the first seven games of the season.

Rounding out the awful numbers, the Blue Jays, in a stunningly depressing statistic, have slashed a collective .182/.251/.307 thus far, sitting in the bottom six in each of those categories.

The Weird

Even though many expected the paid attendance to fall after last week’s Opening Series, it would’ve been difficult to predict numbers as extremely low as 14,391, 12,110, and 11,436. <a href="https://twitter.com/gregorMLB/status/1112891729286295552">According to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm</a>, Monday’s actual attendance of 10,460 was the smallest crowd since April 19, 2010.

Looking Ahead

The Blue Jays fly to Cleveland to kick off a four-game set against the Tribe Thursday. While the Indians, one of the most enigmatic teams in the American League, have gotten off to a rocky start (2-3), they appear poised to bounce back.

Aaron Sanchez (0.00 ERA) is scheduled to go up against Trevor Bauer (1.29 ERA) in Game 1, while youngsters Trent Thornton (0.00 ERA) and Shane Bieber are set to square off in Friday’s Game 2.

Blue Jays pitchers stay strong, bats disappear in series loss to Orioles

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