Granderson hits a grand slam, Jays win

Blue Jays 6 Royals 5

That was an entertaining game.

Marco Estrada was good, except when Sal Perez was at the plate. Perez went 3 for 3 against him, with 2 home runs. Other than that, Estrada was cruising. Not counting Perez, Marco only allowed 3 hits, 1 walk, with 3 strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Add Perez back in, he allowed 3 earned.

On offense, we had one big inning, one big swing of the bat. Curtis Granderson had a grandslam home run in the 4th inning. In the 4th we loaded the bases, Teoscar Hernandez singled, Russell Martin was hit by pitch, Kevin Pillar singled (scoring Teoscar) and Aledmys Diaz singled to load the bases with no one out. But Luke Maile struck out and Richard Urena popped out and it looked like we were going to have one of those disappointing innings. But Granderson drove one just over the right field fence.

Our other run came in the 2nd inning. Teoscar led off with a double and Kevin Pillar drove him home.

We had 10 hits on the night. 2 each for Granderson, Hernandez and Pillar (who also took a walk). Everyone else in the starting lineup had 1 hit expect for Justin Smoak (0 for 4 with a walk) and Maile (0 for 4, k).

And the bullpen did the job. Of course, it is easier to do the job when the starter goes 6.2.

• Ryan Tepera got the last out of the 7th and gave up just a walk in the 8th.
• Ken Giles gave up a 1-out home run to make it a 1-run game and make us sweat. But he got out of the inning, finishing the game with a strikeout for his 15th save of the year and his 3rd as a Blue Jay.

We didn’t need much for great defense, Marco had a lot of soft contact. The Royals only tried to bunt for a base hit once, in front of Martin and Whit Merrifield was easily safe. I still think I’d bunt at Russell until he showed he could make a play on it.

Granderson did a very profession, very nice interview with Hazel Mae after the game.

Jays of the Day: Granderson (.273 WPA), Tepera (.136), Pillar (.185, he’s on a hot streak again) and Giles (.100)

Suckage: Maile (-.122).

We had 498 comments in the GameThread. delv213 led us to victory. Great job sir.