Good start from Robbie Ray but Jays lose

Yankees 3 Blue Jays 1

What is going on with Jays pitching and Yankees’ catchers. Gary Sanchez hit two home runs in the season opening series against us and Kyle Higashioka had two tonight, who drove in all three Yankees’ runs.

We were promised a pitching duel and we got one. The Jays seemed to have good at bats about Gerrit Cole in the first few innings. We scored in the first on singles by Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero, a wild pitch and a Randal Grichuk ground out.

And our first two batters got on in the second inning, Lourdes Gurriel taking a nice walk and Rowdy Tellez getting his first hit of the season, but Alejandro Kirk, Josh Palacios (pretty overmatched all game, not that I blame him against Cole) and Marcus Semien.

But after Cole was much more Cole like. In total he went 6, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk with 8 strikeouts and just the one earned.

Rob Rae didn’t give up his first hit until one out in the fifth inning. Unfortunately he gave up his second hit, Higashioka’s first home run, right after that. Ray was very good, even though it didn’t seem like he was getting the same strike zone that Cole was. He did tire in the fifth, which is fair considering it was his first start of the season. In all he allowed 3 hits, 3 walks with 3 strikeouts and the 2 earned.

Rafael Dolis got 5 outs, giving up just 1 walk, and getting the last out in the same calendar day as his first out. It was the best outing we’ve seen from him this year.

Ryan Borucki got 2 outs but gave up Higashioka’s second home run.

Trent Thornton got the last two outs of the eighth. He also got the first two outs of the ninth, but gave up a walk, so Charlie had to pull him because of reasons.

On the hitting side, we had some good at bats, but just 4 singles and a double. One single each from Bichette, Vlad, Tellez and Semien and Grichuk with the double.

Our best shot to tie it was in the eight. Darren O’Day gave up a single to Semien and a walk to Bo, bringing up Vlad with two outs, but he struck out.

I guess it is worth noting that Joe Panik pinch hit for Kirk against O’Day. O’Day is much tougher on RH batters than lefties, but still I’d prefer Kirk batting.

And we had a shot against Aroldis Chapman too, Randal started off the ninth with a double. Biggio flied out. Gurriel struck out. And Rowdy, in a pretty unfair spot, struck out on a pinch that was closer to the ground than the strike zone. There were a lot of bad calls against us.

Our defense looked good tonight. Vlad and Biggio each made some nice plays.

Jays of the Day: Dolis (.110 WPA).

Suckage: Biggio (-.191 WPA, his defense looked good, but 0 for 4, with a k), Gurriel (-.102, 0 for 3, walk), Palacios (-.098, for an 0 for 3, 2 k) and Borucki (-.090).

Tomorrow it is another 7:00 Eastern start. Jameson Taillon starts for the evil empire. Hyun Jin Ryu for the rebels.

We had 909 comments in the GameThread. I should have added one more so it could be the One After 909 but no one under 50 would get it. I led us to defeat.