Rays squeeze Jays into pulp completing four game sweep at the Trop

Blue Jays 3 at Rays 8

Another day, another sad loss in Tampa. I suppose the silver lining is that the Jays won’t be going back there until 2020.

Jacob Waguespack didn’t have a great outing, though he didn’t really deserve to get hung with six earned runs over 4.1 innings. He fell behind the eight ball early in yielding a first inning home run to Austin Meadows of course.

On the opposite side, after blowing the Jays away in the first touching triple digits a couple times, Tyler Glasnow had a bumpier second inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. worked a leadoff walk before Randall Grichuk turned around a 97 MPH fastball sending it 110 MPH out to dead centre for a no doubter that put the Jays ahead.

Briefly anyway. Like last night, it didn’t hold as the Rays responded in the bottom of the inning. Waguespack was the author of his own misfortune, issuing a pair of walks to start the inning. He got to two outs without allowing either home on a pair of groundouts, but couldn’t finish the job as Daniel Robertson lined a triple down the right field line.

Two out extra base hits were the theme of Waguespack’s day in turned out, as the Meadows home run in the 1st came with two out, and he stranded two out doubles in the 3rd and 4th as well. He didn’t get the chance to break the streak in the 5th after allowing a pair of singles sandwiched around an out. That brought up Avisail Garcia, already with one of the aforementioned doubles, who hit a fly ball out out to centre field. Though not completely routine, it was eminently catchable but Teoscar Hernandez just misread it. It fell in behind him and bounced over the fence for a ground rule RBI double.

That spelled the end of Waguespack, but not the damage attributable to his line. Wilmer Font allowed a sac fly and then RBI double (extending the streak of two out extra base hits) to cash both inherited runners, running the tally to 6-1.

That felt insurmountable, because the Jays in turn were doing basically nothing after the Tampa bullpen took over. From the 3rd through the 8th, the Jays managed just two singles (Brandon Drury and Bo Bichette). There was some late thunder as Rowdy Tellez led off the 9th with a double and was cashed by Vladdy ripping a single behind him. But too little, too late, especially after Avisail Garcia had torched Sam Gaviglio for a two run homer in the 7th to extend it to 8-1.

On the bright side, Ken Giles threw a perfect 9th with three flyouts.

Jays of the Day: Grichuk (+0.134 WPA).

Blew Jays: Waguespack (-0.311) and though he short of the threshold, Teoscar (-0.049) gets the nod with the sombrero and defensive misplay.

Tomorrow, the Jays are off as they return home to host the Red Sox in the final Loonie Dog game of the year. For those who don’t intend on stuffing their faces, T.J. Zeuch will make his home debut at 7:05 PM eastern.