<p>The Toronto Blue Jays kicked off their weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels on a positive note.</p>
<p></p>
<p>L.A. rolled into town just three games back of the Blue Jays for the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League. Led by Kevin Gausman and home runs from Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen, and Whit Merrifield, the Blue Jays gained a game of ground over the Angels with a 4-1 victory.</p>
<h2>Things worth mentioning&#8230;</h2>
<ul>
<li>Kevin Gausman got the start for the Blue Jays for the first time since allowing four solo homers to the Mariners in Seattle over the weekend. Shohei Ohtani hit a bomb in the first inning to give the Angels an early lead but Gausman settled down after that. He went six innings and scattered five hits and three walks while striking out nine. Gausman&#8217;s ERA on the season is now 3.10.</li>
<li>The Apple+ broadcast panned to a clip of Matt Chapman interacting with manager John Schneider in the dugout after Ohtani hit his home run. I&#8217;m not great at reading lips, but it seems Chapman is saying something along the lines of &#8220;Why pitch to Ohtani, he&#8217;s the only one on this team who can hit?&#8221;</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Oh wow <a href="https://t.co/2AxQkBCl3J">pic.twitter.com/2AxQkBCl3J</a></p>
<p>— abbey (@aabbeeyy04) <a href="https://twitter.com/aabbeeyy04/status/1685072725382139904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<ul>
<li>The Blue Jays answered Ohtani&#8217;s homer quickly. Chapman smashed a solo bomb in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game and then Danny Jansen put them ahead by a score of 2-1 with a dinger of his own in the third. Whit Merrifield gave the Blue Jays some insurance in the seventh inning with his eighth home run of the season.</li>
<li>Speaking of Merrifield, he was put into the leadoff spot in Toronto&#8217;s lineup while George Springer was moved down to fifth. Merrifield went 3-for-4 with the aforementioned home run along with a couple of singles while Springer went 0-for-4.</li>
<li>Gausman started the seventh inning with the Blue Jays up by a score of 3-1. He allowed a single to Mike Moustakas and then walked Matt Thaiss and Hunter Renfroe before getting pulled. Erik Swanson came into the game with the bases loaded and nobody out and struck out Trey Cabbage and Eduardo Escobar before getting Luis Rengifo to fly out to left field to end the threat.</li>
<li>After Tim Mayza pitched a clean eighth inning, Jordan Romano came into the game for the save. He got two outs but allowed a single and a walk and was removed from the game with an injury. Yimi Garcia came into the game and got the final out to record the save.</li>
</ul>
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The Toronto Blue Jays kicked off their weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels on a positive note.



L.A. rolled into town just three games back of the Blue Jays for the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League. Led by Kevin Gausman and home runs from Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen, and Whit Merrifield, the Blue Jays gained a game of ground over the Angels with a 4-1 victory.
<h2>Things worth mentioning...</h2>
<ul>
 	<li>Kevin Gausman got the start for the Blue Jays for the first time since allowing four solo homers to the Mariners in Seattle over the weekend. Shohei Ohtani hit a bomb in the first inning to give the Angels an early lead but Gausman settled down after that. He went six innings and scattered five hits and three walks while striking out nine. Gausman's ERA on the season is now 3.10.</li>
 	<li>The Apple+ broadcast panned to a clip of Matt Chapman interacting with manager John Schneider in the dugout after Ohtani hit his home run. I'm not great at reading lips, but it seems Chapman is saying something along the lines of "Why pitch to Ohtani, he's the only one on this team who can hit?"</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Oh wow <a href="https://t.co/2AxQkBCl3J">pic.twitter.com/2AxQkBCl3J</a></p>
— abbey (@aabbeeyy04) <a href="https://twitter.com/aabbeeyy04/status/1685072725382139904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<ul>
 	<li>The Blue Jays answered Ohtani's homer quickly. Chapman smashed a solo bomb in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game and then Danny Jansen put them ahead by a score of 2-1 with a dinger of his own in the third. Whit Merrifield gave the Blue Jays some insurance in the seventh inning with his eighth home run of the season.</li>
 	<li>Speaking of Merrifield, he was put into the leadoff spot in Toronto's lineup while George Springer was moved down to fifth. Merrifield went 3-for-4 with the aforementioned home run along with a couple of singles while Springer went 0-for-4.</li>
 	<li>Gausman started the seventh inning with the Blue Jays up by a score of 3-1. He allowed a single to Mike Moustakas and then walked Matt Thaiss and Hunter Renfroe before getting pulled. Erik Swanson came into the game with the bases loaded and nobody out and struck out Trey Cabbage and Eduardo Escobar before getting Luis Rengifo to fly out to left field to end the threat.</li>
 	<li>After Tim Mayza pitched a clean eighth inning, Jordan Romano came into the game for the save. He got two outs but allowed a single and a walk and was removed from the game with an injury. Yimi Garcia came into the game and got the final out to record the save.</li>
</ul>

<hr />

<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold" style="text-align: center;"><a class="text-accent" href="https://gml-grp.com/C.ashx?btag=a_24038b_2065c_&amp;affid=7966&amp;siteid=24038&amp;adid=2065&amp;c=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO</a></h2>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-61491" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Betano_ON_Base_727x404-1.png" alt="" width="727" height="404" />

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