Smoak homers twice, Jays beat Red Sox

Blue Jays 13 Red Sox 7

Sometimes good wins over evil.

This one had some of everything, especially if you are a fan of bad play. The Jays had 4 errors in the first 2 innings.

In the first inning, after a Mookie Betts triple and a strikeout, there was a ground ball to Lourdes Gurriel. The infield was back, being the first inning we don’t get all that worried about 1 run, but Gurriel threw home. The throw would have been in plenty of time but he bounced it just in front of Russell Martin and it got past Martin. I thought it was a ball Martin should have caught, but it wasn’t an easy play, and, I’d imagine, he wasn’t expecting the play to come to him. Error 1, credited to Lourdes, but should be shared credit.

In the second, runner on first and one out, ground ball to the Gurriel’s right, he came in to pick it up on a short hop, but missed it. Error 2.

Next batter, Jackie Bradley singled to center, Kevin Pillar came up throwing and again it bounced just in front of Martin (understandable considering the distance of the throw) and again it got past Martin. Again, not an easy play. Again, I thought Martin should have had it. Error 3, on Pillar, but should be shared.

A triple, a single and an out later (not to mention 3 runs), Ryan Borucki catches Brock Holt taking off to steal too early, throws to first, but misses Kendrys Morales’ glove. Error 4. They didn’t give us a view that showed us if Kendrys had a chance to catch it or not. Kendrys was stepping forward to get an angle on the throw he was going to make to second, so maybe he couldn’t move to the ball.

So 2 innings, 6 runs again 3 of them earned.

It felt, at the time, that the 5 run second inning was going to be another one of those bad innings that costs us the game. But we fought back.

Borucki would give up another run in the 4. He could have used some help from his defense, but he also gave up some hard hit balls. He went 3 innings plus, allowed 8 hits, 7 runs, 4 earned, 4 walks with 5 strikeouts. He battled.

It was one of those rare games where we got a lot of offense. We scored:

• 3 in the second: Morales and Martin started the inning off with walks. Pillar doubled, scoring Kendrys. Dwight Smith hit a sac fly. Devon Travis walked, and an out later, Gurriel singled home Martin.
• 5 in the third: Justin Smoak led off with a home run. Then Kendrys walked, Martin singled and Pillar doubled them home. Dwight Smith followed with a 2-run homer. A great quick swing from Smith, pulling down the right field line, just inside the foul pole.
• 3 in the eighth: Lourdes was hit by pitch, Yangervis Solarte singled. Smoak singled, scoring one. Morales hit a ground rule double, scoring one. Then we had another stupid baseball moment, Martin hit a ground ball to second, Smoak (smartly, there were no outs) didn’t go home, but Kendrys took off from second, so Smoak had to go home, late and was out easy. I don’t know what Kendrys was thinking, but it was stupid baseball. Make sure the guy in front of you runs before you run. Pillar followed with a single, scoring our 3rd run of the inning and 11th of the game.
• 2 in the ninth: Curtis Granderson was hit by pitch to start the inning, and, 2 outs later, Justin Smoak hit his second homer of the game.

We had 14 hits, 7 walks and 2 hit batters on the day.

• Pillar was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI
• Smoak was 3 for 5, 2 homers, 4 RBI.
• Gurriel was 2 for 5.
• Solarte 2 for 5, and a nice catch (followed by a dance).
• Morales: 1 for 3, double, 3 walks.
• Martin: 1 for 3, 2 walks,
• Smith: 1 for 3. homer.

The only guys in the starting lineup not to hit were Granderson (0 for 5, 3 k, hit by pitch) and Travis (0 for 4, k, walk).

The bullpen did a great job (helped out by the defense remembering what their gloves were for). 6 scoreless innings from our relievers:

• Jake Petricka: 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 k.
• Aaron Loup: 1 out.
• John Axford: 1.1 clean.
• Seunghwan Oh: 1 inning, 1 hit, 2 k.
• Tim Mayza: 1 out.
• Tyler Clippard: 1 inning, 1 hit, 2 k.

Jays of the Day: Petricka (.303), Axford (.138), Pillar (.319), Morales (.148), Gurriel (.144, I’m going to ignore the 2 errors, since we won).

Suckage: Borucki (-.687) had the number, but that shouldn’t all be on him. Granderson (-.107). And I think we could give one to the team defense.

We had 698 comments. Alan F led us to victory. Good job sir.