Jays Lose Game Two of Doubleheader

Blue Jays 2 Guardians 8

The first game was much more fun.

Ross Stripling didn’t have his best night. He had some bad luck but didn’t look as sharp as in his last couple of starts. He went 4 innings, allowed 5 hits, 4 earned, 1 walk with 3 strikeouts.

Cleveland got three runs in the first. A one-out single, followed by a double over Teoscar Hernandez, that he likely should have caught. It was windy, maybe the ball travelled more than Teoscar thought it would, but it was just over his glove. Another double to the left-field corner and a single got the 3 runs.

He gave up a solo homer to Franmil Reyes in the third.

And three relievers each gave up runs:

• David Phelps gave up a run on 2 walks and a hit.
• Ryan Boruck,i just added from the IL, had a rough time. A walk, a Luke Maile double (hit hard into the corner, I’m sure Luke didn’t hit anything that hard in his time in Toronto), a sac bunt and a single scored the runs against him. Seemed like everything was hit hard against him.
• Casey Lawrence gave up a run on 3 hits in his 2 innings of work. He was likely our most effective pitcher.

And the offense did little. 4 hits in total. 3 of them in our first 3 at-bats.

Springer started the game with a single. Bichette doubled him (I thought it was an iffy move to send him, considering there were no outs, but he was just safe) and Vlad singled. But the fun ended there, Vlad was picked off first by Maile, and Teoscar struck out and Lourdes ground out.

Our other run came in the second. Chapman walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an Espinal double. But Santiago was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. Pat went on about how it wasn’t bad baserunning, but there was no reason to chance it. Santiago may have been ripped off, it appeared that the tag pushed his hand off the bag. I’m not sure that the tag wasn’t there before he got to the bag, and the Jays didn’t challenge.

That would be the end of our hitting.

It wasn’t the end of the bad baserunning. Springer was ‘caught stealing’ in the third. On strike three to Vlad, Springer started towards second, stopped and was put out easily.

So our last hit came in the second inning.

No one gets the JoD. Bo was closest at .070 WPA.

Suckage goes to Stripling (-.276) but when you don’t hit after the second inning and you have 3 guys put out on the bases, the whole batting order deserves one (or I guess 9).

We did have some bad luck. Bo hit a ball 104.7 MPH, with an expected .850 BA that was caught. Lourdes hit a ball 101.6 MPH, with a .630 EBA but was out. Chapman had a lineout with a .830 EBA.

And I’m curious to see the Umpire Scorecard tomorrow. Lourdes, in particular, was robbed on an at-bat.

But we can’t stop hitting after the second inning and we have to do better on the bases. Add in a couple of less than terrific defensive moments, though Vlad made a very nice catch on a ground ball up the line, and then a great throw to second to get the lead runner. And Teoscar had a nice sliding catch, quickly followed by a great catch by Lourdes, going back on a ball and just making a snow cone catch. Gurriel seems so much better going back on the ball this year.

Tomorrow we have a 1:00 Eastern start. Alek Manoah goes for his fifth win of the season. Someone named Konner Pilkington is scheduled to make his first MLB start, after throwing 5 innings of scoreless relief this season.