Vlad homers, Jays win

Blue Jays 5 Braves 3

You know that Robbie Ray is having a good season when you think he’s had an off-night, and he’s got 10 strikeouts and 1 walk (which could have been called a hit batter). He gave up a couple of solo home runs, one to Ronald Acuña Jr. and the other to Marcell Ozuna. But 6 innings, 5 hits, and 3 earned is nothing to complain about.

Trent Thornton came in for the seventh and gave up a long fly that I thought was going out but hit the wall in right and then he stranded the runner.

Tyler Chatwood, surprising us all, got the call in the eighth, facing the top of the Braves order, with the two-run lead. He struck Acuña out on a very nice cutter. Freddie Freeman ground out to first. And then got Ozuna to chase strike 3 after falling behind 3-1. A terrific pitching job.

Jordan Romano got the ninth. Ozzie Albies struck out. Austin Riley had a swinging bunt that Romano could have made a play on, but he went for it with his bare hand and missed the first try. That was enough for Riley to be safe at first. Dansby Swanson hit, what I thought was going to be a game-ending double play, but Semien had trouble with the transfer at second, and they only got the out at second. Pablo Sandoval came in as a pinch-hitter (my wife was making fun of his size). Romano walked him on a pitch that was barely off the plate. Ehire Adrianza came in to pinch-hit and popped out to left. I needed to get my heart rate up today, thanks Jordan.

It took a while for the offense to get anything going. We seemed to be chasing high and low pitches against Bryse Wilson.

We finally got to him in the sixth: Marcus Semien, having a nice night, singled, and, an out later, Vladimir Guerrero homered the opposite way, to tie the game, for a moment (the Braves would get one in the bottom of the inning).

We had much more fun against reliever A.J. Minter in the eighth:

• Jonathan Davis, in the game via the double switch, doubled off the wall in left to start off the inning. Acuña maybe should have made the catch.
• Semien tapped one back to the pitcher, but Davis got too far off second. Minter started to throw to second, and Davis deked to third, getting Minter to pause, then Davis dove back into second just under the tag. Instead of getting an out, we had runners on first and second, no outs.
• Bo Bichette lined a single to left. Davis had to make sure it wasn’t caught, so he didn’t score on the play. Bases loaded.
• Vlad lined a single to left, scoring the tying run. Bases still loaded.
• Teoscar Hernandez ground one to the first baseman, who looked like he was going to throw home, but Semien, with the bases loaded, went on contact, and Minter didn’t cover first. 4-3 Jays.
• Randal Grichuk struck out, chasing a pitch in the dirt. He had a rough night.
• Cavan Biggio walked on four pitches. A run not batted in, but an RBI. 5-3 Jays.
• Rowdy Tellez, pinch-hitting, got a terrible call on the first pitch, well off the plate, called a strike. Not close at all. He ended up popping out to left.
• Danny Jansen lined one hard to left, I thought he had a double, but it was caught.

Counting the fly ball that Acuña didn’t catch, the Braves blew 3 plays in that inning.

We had 10 hits on the day. Teoscar and Vlad had 3 each. Semien had 2.

Jays of the Day: Vlad (.359 WPA), Davis (.165), Teoscar (.142), Semien (.113) and Chatwood (.090). Romano had the number too....I’m not sure I want to give him one, I have 100 new gray hairs because of him.

Suckage: Grichuk (-.138, on an 0 for 4, 3 strikeouts, just not his night). Ray had the number (-.125), but I thought he had a good night, so I’m not giving him the ‘award’.

Tomorrow we have Ryu (3.31) going against Max Fried (8.44).

We had 672 comments in the GameThread. DangYouToHeck led us to victory.