Jays Lose to Tigers

Tigers 3 Blue Jays 1

Not a bad start for Chris Bassitt. 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. He deserved some more help from his teammates.

Adam Cimber didn’t have a great time of it, starting the 7th inning. He gave up a walk, got robbed on a fielder’s choice, where the fielder decided not to get an out. It was a ground ball to Bo at short. He went to second but late and didn’t get the out. Bo’s been in the league long enough to know when he should throw to first. A single loaded (just out of the reach of Bichette running to the outfield) loaded the bases. Then Cimber got a ground ball to third. Santiago Espinal stepped on third to get an out but then threw home. The runner going home stopped and went back to third. Espinal should have known to chase the runner toward home and get the tag out. But, just a poor thought process cost an out again.

Tim Mayza came in and got a weak tapper that Alejandro Kirk grabbed and stepped back to the plate for the force. A flyout ended the inning, keeping it a 2-1 game.

Unfortunately, Anthony Bass gave up an insurance run in the eighth.

Trevor Richards got through the ninth, despite hitting the leadoff batter.

On offense, well, we didn’t do much. There was a run in the third:

Cavan Biggio singled, stole second and scored on Vladimir Guerrero’s single.

That was it for scoring. We had 8 hits. Bo had 2. No one else had more than one. And we only had one extra-base hit, a Brandon Belt double.

I want to point out that Biggio got robbed yet again, by the plate umpire, to end the game. Two out in the ninth, Cavan has a 1-1 count. The next pitch is at least a couple of inches off the outside edge, strike two. Next pitch, Cavan easily checks his swing. The third base umpire disagrees, calling him out. Just a terrible call again.

The Jays were 1 for 12 with RISP. They gotta do better than that.

An interesting moment from the Tigers’ side:

Javier Baez was taken out of the game by manager A.J. Hinch. Baez was doubled off second when, on an easy fly ball, he took off from second and of course, Daulton Varsho threw behind it. I guess he thought there were two outs.

Before that, Baez had lined the ball off the center field wall, but Baez thought it would be a home run and jogged out of the box, only starting to run after it hit the wall. Yesterday Baez didn’t tag up on a fly ball to the outfield in the 10th inning. He wouldn’t have been able to score, but he should have hustled back in case of a bad throw.

Jays of the Day: Tim Mayza (.149 WPA).

The Other Award: Varsho (-.152), Kirk (-.108), Belt (-.105), Cimber (-.097) and Bass (-.091).

Tomorrow we start a series with the 13-0 Rays.