Every new baseball stadium should be required to have a dome.

The Toronto Blue Jays took on the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, splitting the two-game series because Friday’s game was washed out due to rain and will be played in late July. Overall, it wasn’t a great series for the leaders of the American League East.
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Saturday’s game was incredibly winnable. The Jays added a run in each of the first three innings, including Anthony Santander hitting his first home run as a Blue Jay against his former team. However, the Orioles answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth and a game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth. Bowden Francis should’ve been pulled after this, but he remained and gave up a two-run double to Cedric Mullins.
It’s hard not to trust Francis given his body of work since late July (he even had a no-hitter into the fifth inning in this game), but the time to pull him was after the game-tying home run.
The Jays scored a run in the top of the seventh, but Bo Bichette hit into a double play and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out. Their last chance to tie it came in the top of the ninth, as they had runners on first and second with one out, but Alan Roden grounded out and Bo Bichette struck out to end the game.
Sunday’s game felt like a complete reversal, like they shouldn’t have won the game. Down 6-3 heading into the top of the eighth, Alejandro Kirk hit a double to score a run, followed by an RBI groundout from Davis Schneider. With two outs, Bo Bichette hit an RBI single to tie the game, before the Jays eventually won in extra innings to split the series.
For the first time since Opening Day, starting pitching struggled. Collectively, Francis and José Berríos pitched 10.2 innings, giving up nine earned runs, striking out 12, and allowing four home runs. The good news is that the bullpen didn’t give up an earned run, with the two runs given up being two unearned runs from Nick Sandlin due to a Guerrero Jr. error.
Moreover, it seems as if the bats seem to be coming around. They hit two home runs in the two games, but also finished with 26 hits. Over a three-game series, they would have averaged 39 hits, the most for any series so far this season.
A two-game sample size is tiny, but the top performer in the series was Ernie Clement, who finished with four hits in his five plate appearances for a 439 wRC+, incredibly sustainable throughout the season. In fact, only two players with six or more plate appearances finished with a wRC+ below 125: George Springer (-42 wRC+) and Will Wagner (-100 wRC+). Nathan Lukes, Alejandro Kirk, Davis Schneider, Myles Straw, Bichette, Guerrero Jr., Santander, Alan Roden, and Andrés Giménez each finished with a wRC+ above 125.
The Jays return home to Toronto for the first time since April 2 as they host the 4-11 Atlanta Braves for three games.
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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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Every new baseball stadium should be required to have a dome.



The Toronto Blue Jays took on the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, splitting the two-game series because Friday’s game was washed out due to rain and will be played in late July. Overall, it wasn’t a great series for the leaders of the American League East.
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Saturday’s game was incredibly winnable. The Jays added a run in each of the first three innings, including Anthony Santander hitting his first home run as a Blue Jay against his former team. However, the Orioles answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth and a game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth. Bowden Francis should’ve been pulled after this, but he remained and gave up a two-run double to Cedric Mullins.

It’s hard not to trust Francis given his body of work since late July (he even had a no-hitter into the fifth inning in this game), but the time to pull him was after the game-tying home run.

The Jays scored a run in the top of the seventh, but Bo Bichette hit into a double play and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out. Their last chance to tie it came in the top of the ninth, as they had runners on first and second with one out, but Alan Roden grounded out and Bo Bichette struck out to end the game.

Sunday’s game felt like a complete reversal, like they shouldn’t have won the game. Down 6-3 heading into the top of the eighth, Alejandro Kirk hit a double to score a run, followed by an RBI groundout from Davis Schneider. With two outs, Bo Bichette hit an RBI single to tie the game, before the Jays eventually won in extra innings to split the series.

For the first time since Opening Day, starting pitching struggled. Collectively, Francis and José Berríos pitched 10.2 innings, giving up nine earned runs, striking out 12, and allowing four home runs. The good news is that the bullpen didn’t give up an earned run, with the two runs given up being two unearned runs from Nick Sandlin due to a Guerrero Jr. error.

Moreover, it seems as if the bats seem to be coming around. They hit two home runs in the two games, but also finished with 26 hits. Over a three-game series, they would have averaged 39 hits, the most for any series so far this season.

A two-game sample size is tiny, but the top performer in the series was Ernie Clement, who finished with four hits in his five plate appearances for a 439 wRC+, incredibly sustainable throughout the season. In fact, only two players with six or more plate appearances finished with a wRC+ below 125: George Springer (-42 wRC+) and Will Wagner (-100 wRC+). Nathan Lukes, Alejandro Kirk, Davis Schneider, Myles Straw, Bichette, Guerrero Jr., Santander, Alan Roden, and Andrés Giménez each finished with a wRC+ above 125.

The Jays return home to Toronto for the first time since April 2 as they host the 4-11 Atlanta Braves for three games.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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