17 hits power the Jays to a win over the Angels

Angels 6 Blue Jays 10

Winning is fun, I almost forgot how fun it is to win.

It's likely just a coincidence, but the whole game seemed to change on a Josh Donaldson strikeout, with us down 5-4 in the 6th. During the at bat, the Angels' bench started chirping at Josh, I'm not sure about what. Donaldson was upset at missing a pitch he thought he should have hit, which seems like a normal thing, but that might have been what got the Angels bench and Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher in particular, on Josh's case. It is fun to be at the birth of a new unwritten rule.

Before that, after our 4-run second inning. the Jays seemed to be sleepwalking through at bats. After that they got focused. We scored 4 runs after that, in that inning. Maybe it was just crappy pitching. Maybe it put the Angels pitcher Mike Morin off his game.

When Donaldson struck out, we had 2 on, with 2 out. After, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion walked. Russell Martin singled home 2 and Danny Valencia doubled (off a right-handed pitcher) 2 more home. I was a little pissed off with Gibby, Justin Smoak was in the on deck circle, but when we scored 2 and got the lead back, Smoak sat down and Valencia stayed in. But, it worked out. Managing is funny, sometimes you do the right thing and lose, something it's the wrong thing and you win.

The next inning, Bautista crush a 2-run homer to get us to 10 runs. The only home run we'd hit on the day.

The game started well, our first 2 batters singled to lead off the game, but didn't score. In the second we scored 4. Valencia walked, Steve Tolleson doubled. Ryan Goins singled home 1. Josh Donaldson singled home another. Bautista doubled home 1 more. And Edwin Encarnacion singled home the last run of the inning.

For the first 3 innings, it looked like Todd Redmond would make the 4 runs stand up and that he could go deep into the game.  He had a no-hitter through 3 innings and looked strong. Unfortunately, he had troubles in the 4th inning, giving up 3 runs. In all he pitched 4 innings, allowed 4 hits, one of them a Albert Pujols home run,  3 earned, 1 walk and had 3 strikeouts. Maybe shouldn't expect better from a spot starter, but those first 3 innings had us expecting more.

We used a bunch of bullpen arms:

• Ryan Tepera gave up a couple of singles in the 5th but got out of the inning. In the 6th, he gave up a lead off homer to David Freese, to tie the game, got a strikeout and then Chris Iannetta doubled. And that was it for him.
• Roberto Osuna came in and had a bit of trouble finishing of the inning, giving up a run scoring single to put us behind. After we scored the 4 in the bottom of the 6th, he had a quick 1-2-3 7th inning. He ended up getting the win.
• Aaron Loup had a tough time in the 8th. He got 2 quick outs, but then Iannetta hit a home run. 2 singles later and
• Steve Delabar finished off the inning with a fly out.
• Brett Cecil pitched the 9th, getting 2 strikeouts and a ground out.

We had 17 hits, with just the 1 home run. Donaldson, Bautista and Martin had 3 each. Encarnacion, Tolleson and Goins had 2 each. The only starter not to hit was Chris Colabello and he waited out 3 walks.

Jays of the Day are Martin (.252 WPA), Bautista (.171, great day for Jose, single, double, homer, walk, 3 RBI) and Goins (.104). I'm giving honorable mention to Donaldson, Osuna, Valencia and Tolleson.

Suckage: Tepera had the number a -.124.

On the Angels side Iannetta entered the game with a .123 batting average and left at .156 off a homer and 2 doubles. Our pitching does seem to help players out of slumps. but then Mike Trout was 0 for 5.

Thought I'd add this:

At the tender age of 20 years and 100 days, @RobertoOsuna1 is the youngest #Bluejays pitcher ever to record a win. #Jays #MazelTov

— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) May 18, 2015

Also youngest pitcher to get a win since Felix Hernadez back in 2005.

Source: FanGraphs

We had 903 comments in a much happier GameThread. Funny what winning will do. I led us to victory.