Casey Janssen gives up back-to-back home runs, Jays lose

Tigers 5 Blue Jays 4

That one hurts.

I do feel bad for Gibby. He pulled Dickey when he should have. Worked small ball to get us a run or two (much as I hate early game bunts, worked his bullpen to bridge the gap between his starter and his closer. Unfortunately, he didn't know his closer would blow up.

That was just Casey Janssen's 3rd blown save of the season. It wasn't pretty. A double and back-to-back home runs and our 2 run lead disappeared and we were quickly behind. Casey really didn't have it, everything he threw was hit hard.

He didn't make any excuses:

Casey Janssen, no excuses: "My arm felt great. They beat me." #BlueJays

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 9, 2014

R.A. Dickey wasn't as impressive as J.A. Happ and Drew Hutchison had been the last two games, but he did get the job done. 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned, 4 walks with 6 strikeouts. He pitched himself in and out of trouble several times. He gave up his 2 runs in the third inning, a leadoff walk to Eugenio Suarez and a Rajai Davis double down the first base line (his second such double of the night) were followed by a 2-run single by Ian Kinsler. Dickey didn't pitch a clean inning until the 6th.

Dustin McGowan and Brett Cecil each pitched perfect inning of relief.

We really should have scored more than 4 runs. We had 13 hits and 3 walks.

We scored:

• 1 in the first on a Jose Bautista walk, and back-to-back singles by Dioner Navarro and Danny Valencia.
• and 3 more in the 2nd. Munenori Kawasaki led off with a double, Josh Thole sac bunted him to third and Ryan Gose put down a nice squeeze bunt to score Muni and reach first. Singles by Reyes, Cabrera and Bautista scored two more.

Jose Bautista did try to give us a chance, in the bottom of the 9th, by getting a lead off single. Walks to Colby Rasmas and Juan Francisco loaded the bases with 2 outs, but Josh Thole popped one down the left field line and Rajai Davis made a nice running, sliding catch. I'd likely have pinch hit Nolan Reimold for Thole but then Thole is a lefty and Nathan seemed to be having troubles throwing strikes to the last two lefties.

Also wasted was some good defense. Reyes made one of the best plays, on a ball hit to his right, and made a great jump throw to get the runner at first. Munenori made a great throw from third (I didn't think he had it in him) and a couple of other nice plays.

Jays of the Day are Dickey (.198 WPA), Bautista (.183).

Suckage goes to Janssen (surprise) (-.741) and Thole (-.362).

Source: FanGraphs

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