Vlad Homers Again, Jays Win

A’s 1 Blue Jays 4

Only one home run for Vlad tonight. Hardly seems worth mentioning.

We had 11 hits on the day and 5 walks, so you would imagine we should have scored more than 4 runs. But it was enough. Vlad, Lourdes, Ramel Tapia and Zack Collins all had two hits each. Everyone else had one hit other than Matt Chapman (who walked twice) and Cavan Biggio (who was hit by pitch).

We scored one run in four different innings:

• First inning: Vlad’s home run.
• Second inning: Tapia had a one-out single, and Santiago Espinal doubled him home. Tapia can motor.
• Sixth inning: Lourdes led off with a single. After a phantom balk, Chapman walked. Kirk, pinch-hitting, hit into a double play. Espinal walked. Zack Collin singled home Lourdes for his first RBI as a Blue Jay.
• Seventh inning: George Springer doubled (just over right fielder Seth Brown, I could have made that catch). After an out, and a Guerrero intentional walk, Lourdes doubles just past a diving Tony Kemp in left. He almost made a terrific catch.

And we had a well-pitched game.

With a spot start, Ross Stripling threw 4 excellent innings, allowing 2 hits, with 3 strikeouts. He was very sharp. It would have been nice for him to go 5 but he threw 62 pitches, which was a fair amount since he hadn’t been stretched out to be a starter.

• Trevor Richards: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 k.
• Tim Mayza: Got just 1 out, giving up 2 hits. Nothing was hit hard, but they managed to avoid the fielders.
• Adam Cimber: Had a bouncer go over his head (it did deflect off his glove) and get into the outfield, scoring the A’s run. He pitched a quick 7th, getting 3 strikeouts. Cimber got the win, his 3rd of the season. Hard to
• Yimi Garcia: 1 inning, 1 k.
• Jordan Romano: 1 inning, 2 strikeouts. His fifth save of the season.

Jays of the Day: Stripling (.213 WPA), Vlad (.103), Lourdes (.100), Cimber (.093), and Collins (.0920.

No suckage Jays, though Kirk came close at -.089, all on his pinch-hit double play.

Collins caught his first complete game for the Jays, and he seemed fine to me. And he had some good at-bats.

Jays are now 5-3. Tomorrow Ryu starts for the Jays. Paul Blackburn gets the ball for the A’s. He pitched 5 shutout innings in his first game of the season.