Jays lose to Orioles

Blue Jays 1 Orioles 3

So, again we get a good start, not a great start, but good. J.A. Happ pitched 7 innings, allowed just 5 hits, no walks, with 9 strikeouts. The only thing he did wrong was give up 2 home runs. The first was a 2-run shot by Adam Jones, the other a solo homer by Chris Davis.

Giving up 3 runs in 7 innings should buy you a win.

Ryan Tepera pitched a clean 8th.

For the second game in a row, we didn’t do enough on offense. 7 hits and 1 walk. The only extra base hit was a Justin Smoak double (and he was the only Jay with 2 hits).

We had 0 fors from Tulowitzki, Martin (he did take a walk) and Pearce.

We did make an attempt at a comeback in the 9th. We had the bases loaded, off Zach Britton. Singles by Jose Bautista and Kendrys Morales and a 1-out walk by Russell Martin (after a check swing strikeout on Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo was pissed off that the plate umpire made the call without asking the first base ump. I didn’t think it was a swing, but I’m biased.). Unfortunately Steve Pearce hit into a double play to end the game.

For the past few years we’ve been living on the home run, but we’ve lost two in a row by the home run.

Kevin Pillar made a couple of very good plays, catching a ball at the wall (and hitting the wall hard, I was worried he was hurt) and throwing out a runner trying to turn a single into a double. Seemed like he didn’t like Bautista taking the defensive spotlight off him.

Jay of the Day: Smoak (.099 WPA).

Suckage: Pearce (-.271, on an 0 for 4, with the game ending double play), Tulo (-.182, on an 0 for 4, 2 k) and Donaldson (-.091, 1 for 4, plus a throwing error, though Smoak could have saved him if he had scooped the short hop).

Not a huge number of comments in the GameThread, 716, but then it was a pretty quick game. Beliaruis gets the win. Great job.