Blue Jays hand Orioles unearned runs, and the game

Orioles 2 Blue Jays 1

For the third straight night, a close one run game. Unlike the last two nights, the Jays were on the losing end. What follows is a quick recap, because there really wasn't much to talk about.

As it turned out, the game was decided in the first inning. Josh Donaldson committed an error on a ground ball allowing Tim Beckham to reach as the first batter of the game. Marcus Stroman got the next two batters, and so would otherwise have been out of the inning. Unfortunately, he then gave up a double to Adam Jones and a triple to Trey Mancini, giving the Orioles their only runs of the night and the only ones they ended up needing.

Stroman ended up going 6 innings, and was pretty good overall, allowing 6 hits and 3 walks against 7 strikeouts. He only had one clean inning, but mostly stayed out of trouble with the exception of the 4th inning, when he loaded the bases with none out on a Mancini double and a pair of walks. But a strikeout and a double play ball got him out of trouble. As did another double play ball in the 6th inning.

Stroman was followed by strong innings from Carlos Ramirez (just a two out walk after a pair of strikeouts), Dominic Leone (worked around a leadoff double cued off the end of the bat) and Ryan Tepera (clean inning). If nothing else, the future of the bullpen looks better than it had in a long, long time.

Offensively, the Jays did very little. They scored their only run in the 3rd inning, on doubles by Richard Urena and Teoscar Hernandez, sandwiched around a sac bunt by Ryan Goins because of course. Donaldson singled behind him to move Teoscar to 3rd, but Justin Smoak hit into the first of the team's three inning ending double play.

The second of those came in the 4th, after back-to-back singles by Kendrys Morales and Kevin Pillar (along with a fielding error) put runners on the corners. After that, the Jays didn't seriously threaten. Morales had really good with 3 hits. Unfortunately no one else did, other the few highlights above.

Jays of the Day: Morales (+0.134 WPA), Stroman (0.095, and a lot higher if the first inning is clean).

Suckage: Basically throw a dart at the hitters. Smoak (-0.223, 0/4). Pillar (-0.193, 1/4, 2K). Russell Martin (-0.176, 0/3). Goins (-0.170). Jose Bautista (-0.110, 0/4).

Tomorrow, the Blue Jays open a four game series in Minnesota at 8:00 EDT with Brett Anderson opposing Jose Berrios.