Blue Jays Strikeout 13 Times, Swept By White Sox

White Sox 4 Blue Jays 0

Marco Estrada held the White Sox to just one-hit through six, but a seventh inning rally was more than enough to hand the Blue Jays a third consecutive loss on Wednesday night. The Blue Jays offence simply could not solve Jose Quintana, and a wide strike zone from home-plate umpire John Tumpane helped the lefty strikeout 10 hitters over six innings.

The Jays stranded their fair share of base runners early on. Josh Donaldson hit a one-out double in his first at bat, but a strikeout and popup would quickly end the short rally. In fact, Toronto got the leadoff man on base in the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 5^th, but multiple strikeouts in each of these innings continually got Quintana out of trouble.

Estrada boasted four "3 up 3 down" frames through the first five innings. He did surrender a single and a walk to begin the second, but managed to get Brett Lawrie to ground into a double play before getting Avisail Garcia to pop-up to end the inning. He also surrendered a pair of one-out walks in the sixth, but quickly worked his way out of trouble yet again.

Despite this trouble, Estrada was back out for the 7^th, immediately surrendering a leadoff single to Todd Frazier. Although Melky Cabrera quickly grounded out for the first out of the inning, Brett Lawrie drew a one-out walk on a full count to give the White Sox a pair of base runners. After Garcia struck out, Dioner Navarro stepped up to the plate with two-on and two-out looking to do some damage against his former team. He proceeded to drive a ball into the right field gap for a two-run TRIPLE, after Kevin Pillar misplayed the bounce off of the wall.

Jesse Chavez entered the game in relief and immediately gave up yet another triple, this time to Austin Jackson. He eventually got Jimmy Rollins to fly out to end the inning, but the damage was done and the White Sox were out to a 3-0 lead. John Gibbons also got himself ejected in the 7^th, as he seemed to be simply fed up with tonight's calls.

Left-handed pitcher Zach Duke relieved Quintana in the 7^th, and got to face two left-handed hitters in a three-up-three down inning. The recently called-up Ryan Tepera then pitched the 8^th for the Jays, but surrendered a walk and two singles, which would extend Chicago's lead to 4-0.

Nate Jones and David Robertson kept the Blue Jays off of the scoreboard in the 8^th and 9^th to preserve the win for the White Sox. Just four hits for the Jays in total tonight, and two were from Josh Donaldson. Thirteen strikeouts really hurt the team's offence, led by Russell Martin with four, and Jose Bautista with three.

Tonight's Jay of the Day goes to Josh Donaldson for a walk and a pair of hits. Jose Bautista (-.148), Edwin Encarnacion (-.117), and Michael Saunders (-.106) get the bad award. Russell Martin automatically gets one for a golden sombrero, and Jesse Chavez deserves one for his struggles out of the bullpen.

The Jays get tomorrow off before heading to Tampa Bay for a three game series on Friday. Aaron Sanchez will take the mound for the Blue Jays and try to put an end to this losing streak.