Blue Jays Batters Fail To Support Starter Laffey In 4-2 Loss To White Sox

Blue Jays 2 White Sox 4

Toronto Blue Jays starter Aaron Laffey was not excellent, but he pitched decently enough to keep the surging White Sox at bay and give the Jays a chance to get the win. Unfortunately, the offence was not able to make use of that chance against White Sox starter Jake Peavy. The Blue Jays fall back down to .500 at 42-42 in the basement of the East, while the Sox move up to 46-38 (.554) atop the Central division.

The Blue Jays were the first to take flight with Adam Lind hitting an opposite-field homer to lead off the 2nd inning. Then in the next inning he struck out on three pitches to end the inning stranding Brett Lawrie and Jose Bautista, who got on via an error and a walk, respectively. He added a strikeout then a clutch single in the 9th for the rest of the game. So since his recall, Lind has gone 10-for-35 (.286) with 10 hits, 4 of them being homers.

There was not too much else of note from the offensive side until the 9th, but Yunel Escobar did flyout deep to centerfield--White Sox centerfielder Alejandro De Aza had to catch it with his back against the fence. Escobar had another well-hit ball in the 6th, but it was lined directly at 2B Gordon Beckham who then easily doubled up Edwin Encarnacion on first. In total, the Blue Jays left 5 men on base and were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Jake Peavy allowed 5 hits on 2 walks through 7.1 innings, and tipped his hat to a standing ovation at U.S. Cellular Field when he left the mound.

Laffey tossed 89 pitches over 6 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) and 8 hits while striking out 4 White Sox and just walking 1. He gave up a towering homer to A.J. Pierzynski.

Chicago got 3 of their runs in the 5th, when the defense behind Laffey turned into a bit of a circus. The White Sox discovered Jays' pitchers' kryptonite: they started hitting balls towards Rajai Davis. The inning started with a Danyan Viciedo double to Davis, then Alexei Ramirez hit a blooper towards Davis to tie the game. It was clear to most people that Viciedo was going to score easily from second, but Davis still tried to throw home, but airmailed it over the head of a jumping J.P. Arencibia. Ramirez was allowed to advance all the way to third base because Laffey was not backing up the play at home. It was hard to blame him--who would have thought a throw would've been made?

On the very next play, Another blooper was hit into shallow left. Neither Brett Lawrie or Rajai Davis were able to catch it on the fly, but Lawrie was able to corral it on the bounce. He was running away from the infield so he decided to shovel it Davis to throw it in. Bad idea. Davis was not expecting the toss and the ball went right past him. Sigh. Too bad the Jays do not have a better-fielding and better-hitting left fielder ready and waiting in AAA Las Vegas.

The defense was not all bad, though. Brett Lawrie climbed the ladder twice to snare hard-hit liners hit by de Aza and Paul Konerko, then Edwin Encarnacion made a tough play on a foul pop next to the camera bay. And the Jays did make a little comeback attempt in the 9th, getting a run off of closer Addison Reed on a Escobar sac fly. Those made this game a little less hair-greying. However, the game ended the next at bat when Rajai Davis grounded into an easy double play.

Jays of the Day! Adam Lind (+.119) -- Congratulations Adam for getting back on the JoD board.

Suckage Jays: Rajai Davis (-.131), Aaron Laffey (-.219). Yunel Escobar (-.193) had the numbers for it, but I can't give it to him because the big negative mostly came from a solidly-hit liner. Aaron Laffey did not deserve the big negative WPA due to the defense, but he got to keep the Suckage Jays award because he gave up a homer to Pierzynski.

In-Game Game Winner: Pikachu, for being the closest (without going over) to guessing the time when this game would overtake the Yankees-Red Sox game, which had started an hour earlier. He wins 4,000,000 Zimbabwean Internet Points.