Jays Lose Game, Sanchez and Trade Value from Bullpen

In what was originally billed as an Aaron Sanchez vs Tyler Skaggs game resulted in 1 inning pitched by the two of them. Before the game even started, Skaggs was scratched due to a hamstring issue, which prompted the Angels to go with John Lamb instead.

As for Sanchez, he pitched 1 rough inning before being lifted due to what appears to be a finger contusion. The cause of this contusion is yet to be revealed, but it doesn’t seem like something that would have happened in-game. So stay tuned for that update.

With Sanchez labouring through finger problems, he had a rough first inning. After getting Ian Kinsler to ground out (can Mike Trout file a grievance against Mike Scioscia for continually putting a guy with a sub-.300 OBP in front of the best hitter in baseball?), Trout drew the 1 out walk. That was promptly followed by a ground rule double off the bat of Justin Upton to get runners on second and third. A wild pitch, a single to Albert Pujols, and then a strikeout and popout ended the inning, and Sanchez’s night. 2-0 Angels.

Joe Biagini came in and threw 2 relatively quiet innings, outside of a pair of 1 out singles in the second.

But the quietness allowed the Jays to get back into the game. Kendrys Morales led off the second with a triple he stretched into a double, eventually coming home on a 2-out double by Aledmys Diaz. Lourdes Gurriel led off the third with a single, and possessed the speed to score on a 1-out double by Justin Smoak. A Randal Grichuk oppo-taco leading off the fourth gave the Blue Jays their only lead of the night. 3-2 Blue Jays.

That lead was very short lived though. After only 2 innings, Biagini’s night was done and John Axford came in. He promptly allowed a leadoff bunt single to Andrelton Simmons, who barely beat out a nice play from Yangervis Solarte at 3B. But clearly safe. That was followed 5 pitches later by a 3-1 meatball that Kole Calhoun hit just over the CF fence and maybe off the glove of a leaping Kevin Pillar. 4-3 Angels.

The fifth inning would look much the same, as a leadoff walk to Trout came around to score on another 2-run home run, this one off the bat of Luis Valbuena. Axford would get Simmons to fly out to LF to end the inning, and his night as well. He allowed 4 earned runs on a pair of homers, and continues to watch any trade value he might have had plummet. 6-3 Angels.

Danny Barnes came in for the sixth inning, and walked the first batter he saw, Kole Calhoun. Calhoun promptly stole second, and scored on a Martin Maldonado double. A couple walks later (including an intentional one to Trout, his 3rd of the night) and the bases were loaded. But Preston Guilmet came in to face Pujols and eventually got him to chop one back to the mound and strand the bases loaded. 7-3 Angels.

The Blue Jays got one back in the top of seventh, as Gurriel fought through a 10 pitch at bat before finally getting a pitch he could handle and driving his 3rd home run of the season. He had a good night, going 2-4 with the home run, and playing a decent second base, including a tough turn on a slow double play. His reward is probably a trip back to Buffalo tomorrow. 7-4 Angels.

Guilmet came back out for the seventh and immediately gave back the run that Gurriel got the Jays, serving up another home run to Luis Valbuena. 8-4 Angels.

Kendrys Morales launched a home run in the top of the 8th to bring it back to within 3, but that would be the best the Jays could do. 8-5 Angels was the final score.

The Jays’ offense pounded out 9 hits, with multi hit games for Gurriel and Morales. Hernandez, Solarte and Pillar all had 0-fers.

The pitching sucked, save for Seunghwan Oh, who struck out Hermosillo, Kinsler and Trout on 13 pitches in a perfect 8th inning, and Biagini with his 2 shutout innings back at the beginning.

Jays of the Day: Just Joe Biagini, at .097. He deserves it, even if he didn’t get over the required .100 mark. He pitched 2 good innings, and gave the Jays a chance to get back in it.

Suckage Jays: Sanchez (-.156), Axford (-.378), Hernandez (-.100), Pillar (-.127) and I’ll give myself one as well because I said in this morning’s preview that the lefty hitters on the Angels sucked, and they hit 3 home runs today.

We had 415 comments in the gamethread. lalaprise led us to crushing defeat, no doubt playing a hand in this.