Jays Lose in 10 innings

Jays 5 Twins 6 (10 innings)

What an amazing ninth inning:

In the top, with one out, Bo Bichette ground one through the infield (with two strikes). Matt Chapman popped one up. Danny Jansen ground one through the infield, moving Bo to score. Raimel Tapia went down 0-2 (strike two looked off the plate to me) and then lined the next pitch to center, scoring Bo. Unfortunately, Cavan Biggio couldn’t keep the inning going.

In the bottom, with Yimi Garcia in. Pinch hitter Gio Urshela got a lead-off single. Twins pinch ran with Gilberto Celestino, who moved up on a ground out. The next batter, Carlos Correa, ground an easy one to Cavan Biggio, who booted it. A terrible time for an error. An intentional walk loaded the bases. Yimi got Jose Miranda to strike out. And Nick Gordon to pop out. Yimi has ice water in his veins.

Unfortunately, the tenth inning was a steaming pile of Brussel sprouts.

Top of the Tenth:

Biggio is the Manfred Man and must feel very lucky that Garcia got out of the bottom of the ninth. Merrifield struck out chasing. Vlad was pitched around. Lourdes Gurriel singled just over the second baseman. Cavan couldn’t score because he had to make sure it was a hit. Unfortunately, Teoscar struck out when we really needed contact. Bo got unlucky on the first pitch, check swing that apparently touched the ball for a strike. Then he struck out on two more pitches.

Bottom of the Tenth:

Jordan Romano in. Nick Gordon on second. Nick Cave, with a Red Right Hand (yeah, figure out that reference). Romano bounced in strike three. Jansen blocked it, Cave ran to first, Danny got the ball, looked back the runner on second, but threw high to Vlad, and there were runners on the corners. Caleb Joseph pointed out that Vlad should have been on the foul side of the bag to give Danny a target instead of throwing over the runner.

The next batter grounds one to Chapman, he throws home, bounces it, Danny can’t catch it, and it is game over.

I don’t understand how turning the page on the calendar can change a player (especially since none of the players would understand the term ‘turn the page on the calendar), but it seems to.

José Berríos was our best starting pitcher in July. We won his 6 starts. He had a 3.00 ERA, and batters hit just .248/.289/.383 against him. Had 42 strikeouts in 36 innings.

One would expect it to carry over.

Nope. 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned, 2 walks and only 1 strikeout. He gave up two home runs, one to Mark Quite Contreras and a three-run shot to Nick Gordon.

Our bullpen did the job:

• Trevor Richards: 1.1, 1 k.
• Zach Pop: 1.0 (he did come out for the next inning but then gave up a leadoff hit and was pulled), 2 hits.
• Adam Cimber: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 k.
• David Phelps: 1 inning, 1 hit, 2 k.
• Yimi Garcia got the ninth inning. He gave up a leadoff single to pinch hitter Gio Urshela. Twins pinch ran with Gilberto Celestino, who moved up on a ground ball. The next batter, Carlos Correa, ground an easy one to Cavan Biggio, who booted it. A terrible time for an error. An intentional walk loaded the bases. Yimi got Jose Miranda to strike out.

The Jays had troubles with Tyler Mahle for four innings. They got one in the fifth, a Matt Chapman home run. And then 3 in the sixth:

• Santiago Espinal homered, his first since June 30th.
• Whit Merrifield singled.
• And Vladimir Guerrero hit his 23 home run of the season, and second of this series.

We went from down 5-0 to 5-4 in two innings.

The Jays had 11 hits, but needed another run or two. Whit Merrifield and Vlad had two hits each. Everyone else in the starting lineup had one.

Jays of the Day: Vlad (.198 WPA), Tapia (.188, though he missed a catch in the ninth that he really should have had), Garcia (.133) and Cimber (-.094).

Suckage: Berrios (-.238), Teoscar (-.315), Bo (-.152), Merrifield (-.111), Chapman (-.102, plus the bad throw). And I’m giving one to Jansen for the messed-up plays in the ninth. Romano had the number (-.193), but it really wasn’t his fault.

Tomorrow we get our first look at Mitch White. Al Ted Dylan Bundy (6-5, 5.04) goes for the Twins.

Yes, the recap is a mess, but I’m not fixing it now. I’m going to go looking for a strong drink.