Closer than it should have been, Jays beat Rangers 7-6

Rangers 6 Blue Jays 7

It ended up being closer than we would have liked. Joe Smith had a rough 9th inning. But any day we beat the Rangers is a good day.

That was what we’d call a good Mike Bolsinger start.

He went 4.2 innings, allowed 6 hits, had 4 walks, 2 strikeouts, but only allowed 3 runs, 2 earned. A bad Devon Travis throw to second base, cost him a run. And he got a bit unlucky in the 5th, when a seeing eye single rolled between Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki, bringing in a run. But, you give up 2 walks in an inning, and you are setting yourself up for bad luck.

Mike managed to stay away from the big inning. He allowed a single run in 3 different innings.

Our bullpen did a great job, until Joe Smith came in.

• Aaron Loup got the last out of the 5th inning, coming in with runners on the corners. And then pitched a quick 6th, getting a strikeout sandwiched between 2 ground outs. Nice to see after I’ve said some nasty things about him lately. He gets credit for the win.
• Danny Barnes gave up a walk, in the 7th, but struck out Rougned Odor to end the inning.
• Ryan Tepera pitched the 8th (maybe shouldn’t have with a 4-run lead). He gave up a 1-out double but that was it.
• Joe Smith gave up a 2-out single, then double, then a Odor homer to make it a 1-run game and bring in
• Roberto Osuna got Mike Napoli to strikeout to end the game.

Offensively....we had 3 home runs on the day. The big one a Devon Travis grand slam in the second inning. Travis also had a single and a double. We also had solo homers from Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales.

We had 9 hits and 5 walks on the day. Travis 3 hits, Kendrys 2. Pillar (0 for 5, 2 k), Bautista (0 for 4, 1 k) and Carerra (0 for 3, walk, 2 k).

Our long lost friends chipped in. Josh Donaldson was 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Troy Tulowitzki was 1 for 2 with 2 walks.

There were a couple of interesting moments.

• In the 3rd inning, down by 3 runs, Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus ran through a stop sign and was thrown out easy. With 1 out, it was stupid.
• Ezequiel Carerra, once again, threw to the wrong place on a single, costing us a base, but not a run.
• In the 7th, with the Jays up by 4 and 2 out, Kendrys Morales was waved in from second on a single....he was thrown out, but I didn’t mind it. We were up 4, it was 2 out, take a shot.

Jays of the Day: Travis (.258 WPA), Smoak (.100, 1 for 2, homer, 2 walks) and Loup (.100).

Suckage: He didn’t get the number, but Smith gets it for the 3 runs allowed in the 9th, forcing Gibby to bring in Osuna.

We had 923 comments. Westbromjayfan led us to the victory. Great job. led us