Great start from Stripling and Bo drives in 3, Jays Win

Cleveland 0 Blue Jays 3

Is good starting pitch contagious? We seem to be on a streak of excellent starts.

Tonight was Ross Stripling’s turn to look terrific. 6 innings of 3 hit ball (all singles). Just 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. Changeup, curve, everything was working. He didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning and then two more in the sixth. Just great work Ross, pick up your JoD award at the nearest 7/11.

Trevor Richards pitched a nice quick seventh on just 11 pitches.

Tim Mayza gave up a walk, but that was it in his eighth inning.

Adam Cimber got the ninth, picking up his first save of the season. I am so glad we traded for him.

Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie matched Ross until one out in the fourth when Vladimir Guerrero got our first hit of the game. Then, an out later, Bo Bichette hit a rocket over the left-center wall. 105.6 MPH, 409 feet. Amazingly just a .900 expected batting average on that. I can’t imagine that 10% of the time, that’s an out.

And Bo drove in our third run, singling home Marcus Semien after Marcus slashed a double to left field.

We only had 5 hits. But, happily, 2 of them came just before Bo came to bat. The other was a Santiago Espinal single.

Espinal also made a terrific barehanded play on a soft bouncer in the eighth inning. They have been platooning him and Valera, but I’d be ok with him just giving him the job while Cavan is out. And maybe beyond.

Lourdes Gurriel also had a nice catch, running a lot way to make a catch near the foul line in left (he almost overran it).

Vlad was hit by pitch in the eight, right on the hand. I’m not a violent guy, and I know it wasn’t on purpose, but I would have been ok with our dugout rushing the mound. Vlad stayed in the game, which I didn’t really understand. There was no real cost to taking him out there. He’s important. Treat him carefully.

Jays of the Day: Stripling (.355 WPA), and Bo (.264). And give one to the padding that protected Vlad’s hand.

No one had the Suckage number. Springer had the low mark at -.068 for an 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. But he’s been so hot. We will forgive.

Tomorrow the Red Sox come to town to start a four-game series. We have Manoah vs. Eovaldi in the first game.

We had 555 comments in the GameThread. I nosed out a victory.