Pillar hits a big 8th inning homer, Jays win

Blue Jays 6 Royals 5

Ryan Borucki has been so good, we can allow him an off night. Tonight he was hit hard. Most of his outs were hit hard too. He just didn’t have it. 4 innings, 6 hits, 4 earned, 4 walks and 1 strikeout. He was being squeezed a bit. Plate umpire Marvin Hudson had a pretty small strikezone, but Ryan wasn’t good.

But we got some hitting tonight. Not a lot of hitting, just 6 hits, but we managed 6 runs. Danny Jansen had his first MLB home run (and it wasn’t a cheapy, he hit it good) and Kevin Pillar played star, hitting a 2-run homer in the 8th to move us from 1 down to 1 up. I want it noted that I said “Come on Kevin, you can be the star” and then he was the star.

We also scored without home runs. In the second inning we scored 2. We loaded the bases. Back-to-back walks for Teoscar Hernandez and Kendrys Morales and a Russell Martin single put 3 on with no outs. We scored 1 on a Aledmys Diaz double play ball and another on a Kevin Pillar single. We should have done better, but 2 isn’t bad.

And we loaded the bases again in the 3rd. Curtis Granderson walked, went to second on a ground out and then Justin Smoak doubled. You would think Granderson would have scored. I mean, who couldn’t score from second on a Smoak double. But Granderson read the line drive badly and only made it to third. Terrible base running. If Granderson was a rookie, we would have heard about it for 3 innings. Kendrys walked again (he had 3 walks on the night) and Martin was hit by pitch for a painful RBI.

Our bullpen did well enough.

• Joe Biagini pitched 2 scoreless innings. He gave up 3 hits but was helped out by a caught stealing on a pitch out (and nice throw by Jansen) and a nice double play.
• Thomas Pannone started the 7th and got a strikeout, then was pulled, making us rather irritated that he was being used as a LOOGY.
• Jake Petricka gave up a couple of hit and a run, but got out of the 7th with a strikeout.
• Tyler Clippard pitched a nice 8th.
• Ken Giles pitched a very nice 9th with 2 k, getting his 14th save of the year.

Also of note:

Martin was very good at third base again. He made what was likely the best play we’ve seen this season from a Jays’ 3B. And he had 2 other very good plays.

The Royals ran wild on Danny Jansen. Well, Not-Raul Modesi stole 3 bases and Whit Merrifield stole 1. As noted, Danny did have a caught stealing.

We took 7 walks. Morales had 3. Smoak and Pillar had 2 hits each.

Jays of the Day: Pillar (.528 WPA), Smoak (.100), Giles (.163), Clippard (.148) and Biagini (.146).

Suckage: Borucki (-.218), Petricka (-.187), Hernandez (-.167, 0 for 3, k) and Diaz (-.125, 0 for 3, walk, 1 and bad double play).

We had 484 comments in a very nice GameThread. I led us to victory.

I have to get the comments in. I’m going to miss the games this weekend. I’m riding in the ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’. 230 kilometers over 2 days. I’m not in shape for it. But if you would like to donate for a good cause: