Jays lose game 1

Rays 3 Jays 2

We came into this one, today, down 1-0 after 3.5 innings.

Chase Anderson gave up 5 hits in 3 innings, but just a run on a Austin Meadows home run.

We had 4 hits off Ryan Yarbrough but weren’t able to score.

We tied it in the fourth. Randal Grichuk hit a popup that was just a bit too far down the line for Ji-Man Choi to catch. Randal did a good job to hustle into second. He moved to third on a passed ball and and then scored on a Rowdy Tellez single through a drawn in infield. One of those runs that was never seem to get.

But then we fell behind again in the top of the fourth. With two outs Yandy Diaz singled. Then Choi hit a double to the right field wall. Teoscar Hernandez did a nice job getting to the ball and throwing it back in (didn’t throw a 98 mile an hour fastball but got the ball in quick enough to get the runner held up at third). The throw clanked off Cavan Biggio’s glove and rolled to the camera well, allowing a run. I thought it was going to be two runs, but the umpires decided the camera well was still in play. To me, there is no excuse for missing that catch.

We tied it in the bottom of the inning. Joe Panik hit a 1-out single and scored on a Teoscar Hernandez double to the wall in left.

That was all the scoring until the top of the ninth. Brandon Lowe caught a Jordan Romano slider and took it just over the wall in center. I guess Romano wasn’t going to have a 0 ERA all season.

Our pen did a good job:

• Wilmer Font pitched a scoreless inning (last night).
• Thomas Hatch went 2 innings, he was the unlucky one who had the unearned run again.
• Ryan Borucki had troubles, giving up a hit and 2 walks to load the bases with 1 out.
• Rafael Dolis got out of the bases load trouble with a k and a fly out, and got 2 outs of the eighth inning.
• Jordan Romano got the last out of the eighth, but gave up the home run in the ninth. He put on 2 before being pulled. His first loss of the year.
• Shun Yamaguchi got the last out of the ninth.

The real interesting moment, to me, was in the sixth. Randal Grichuk and Rowdy Tellez started the inning with back-to-back singles (Rowdy’s was a very nice swing, going the other way against the big shift).

Then Reese McGuire bunted. I’m really not a fan of the bunt, but Reese did it perfectly.

Why I’m not a fan? Well you put all the pressure on the next hitter, in this case Brandon Drury. Drury went to a full count, and hit one decently hard down the first base line. Unfortunately, 3B Yandy Diaz was playing on the line and got Grichuk in a rundown. A Biggio strikeout ended the inning.

In my world, pitcher give up back-to-back hits, don’t let him off the hook.

Now I had a long arguement with someone on twitter, with him saying “Reese is a .125 hitter, you always bunt .125 hitters.” I tried to explain sample sizes but random people on twitter never understand sample size (you hit .125 in 15 at bats, that’s who you are forever). And of course, with a lefty pitcher, I’d bring in Jansen so the small sample size argument is useless. I know the Rays change pitchers, but I’m still happy with the move.

Reason two for not liking that bunt is that Drury is also hitting .125 (or was after that at bat), so if you are buying samples for one, why not the other. Yeah, could have pinch hit Shaw, but then Shaw hasn’t set the world on fire either.

But really, I’d rather 3 chances to score a guy from second than 2 from third. Add in Earl Weaver’s line ‘if you play for a run that’s all you’ll get.” I’m just not a fan of the play.

Jays of the Day: Well, can’t find the FanGraph for this game. Let’s go with Dolis, Teoscar and Rowdy.

Suckage: Romano, Biggio (the strikeout and the missed catch), Drury for not hitting a fly ball, Lourdes (0 for 4) and Vlad (0 for 4).

I don’t know if it is the lack of training time but our catchers can’t make the throw to second on a steal. I think I’d be sending runners all the time until they show they can make that throw.