Another bullpen blowup, Jays lose

Blue Jays 5 Nationals 8

I don’t know.

Nothing good seems to be happening lately.

Jose Berrios had a rough first inning. He gave up a leadoff single. Then got a ground ball hit back to him that could have been a double-play ball, but he threw wide of second. Having Juan Soto come up with two on isn’t a good thing. Soto homers and it is 3-0 early.

After that, three quick outs and four more innings of shut-out ball. If not for his error, it is likely a totally different game.

There were good moments on offense:

• 1 run in the second: Teoscar Hernandez hit his 22nd home run.
• 1 run in the third: Reese McGuire walked, bringing up Berrios (I hate NL baseball). Berrios got the bunt down, but right back to the pitcher. With Reese running, it was an easy double play. Marcus Semien followed with a home run. Berrios did move Reese up the next time he was up and Reese was on first, with a better bunt.
• 3 runs in the seventh: Randal Grichuk walked. An out later, Corey Dickerson homered, tying the game. Dickerson barely got the home run jacket on, when Semien homered, getting his 29th of the season. and we were up by one.

We were happy for a moment.

Berrios came out of the game after 5 innings and 88 pitches. Should he have stayed in longer. I always think the manager and pitching coach are closer to things than I am. As it turned out, it would have been nice if he could have.

Tim Mayza came in, after just coming back from the IL today. He got a strikeout, then hit Carter Kieboom on the back foot with a pitch. A strikeout later, Riley Adams singled.

Right-handed hitter Ryan Zimmerman comes in. The Jays counter with Adam Cimber. Seems like the right move. Zimmerman singles, making it a one-run game

In the seventh, Cimber gives up a lead-off single. With lefty Juan Sotto coming up, they go to the lefty Brad Hand.

Hand gets to a full-count and walks Soto. I’m not too unhappy about that. Soto is the Nationals' best hitter.

But Josh Bell is a RHH and the platoon advantage is gone. Bell homers on the second pitch of the at-bat. Suddenly we are down by two. An out later, Kieboom homers and we are down by three. An out later Hand is out and Trent Thornton is in. He hit a batter and gave p a single but ended things there.

Trevor Richards pitched a scoreless eighth.

We had a shot in the eighth. After two outs (including Kevin Smith’s first MLB at-bat, a strikeout) Breyvic Valera and Grichuk walked (second walk of the day for Randal). Alejandro Kirk pinch-hit for Reese McGuire. A slightly curious move, taking out the lefty batter against a RHP, but Reese took a pitch off his throwing hand the inning before and, Kirk has more power. Anyway, Kirk flew out to right on a 2-2 pitch.

In all, we had 8 hits and 4 walks. Semien, Bo, Teoscar had 2 each.

Vlad was 0 for 5, with 2 K. He did come within a couple of feet of a home run, having it caught at the wall in left. And a nice defensive play cost him a single in the ninth.

I am so happy that this was our last NL-style game of the season.

Jays of the Day: Semien (.221 WPA) and Dickerson (.248).

Suckage: Hand (-.486), Cimber (-.157), and Vlad (-.091).

There is an off-day tomorrow, thankfully. I know I need a day away. Friday the Tigers come to town for a three-game weekend series (he says without looking at the schedule). It would be nice to, you know, win some of those.

We had 379 comments in the GameThread. I led us to a crushing defeat.