Great Start From Manoah, But Jays Lose

Blue Jays 2 Yankees 3

The good news: Alek Manoah was amazing. 7 innings, just 2 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts. Nice to see from him. My Twitter feed was full of dumb stuff like he should be sent to the minors. I’m glad I won’t be seeing it after today.

The bad stuff? Everything else. Let’s do random thoughts:

• Gerrit Cole, cheater or not, was very good as well. We made him throw more pitches, and he came out after 5.2 innings, with 6 hits and 2 walks allowed, but he got the pitches when he needed them.
• Once again, we were lousy with RISP. 0 for 9.
• First inning, I thought it would be one of those great games where we score early and often. George Springer starts things with a single. An out later, Vladimir Guerrero doubled. It was hard to tell from the camera view we got, but it is possible that Springer would have scored on it if he had been sent. But then, there was only 1 out, and we would have cursed Rivera if he had been cut down. But Matt Chapman and Daulton Varsho each struck out.
• Second inning, Alejandro Kirk starts it off with a double, but we don’t score him, or for that matter, move him off second.
• George Springer, we walked in the fifth but, trying to steal second, overslid the bag. He felt his hand was pushed off the bag by Anthony Volpe (and there was a camera angle that supported him), but it is tough to get that call.
• We loaded the bases in the fifth (Vlad walked, Varsho singled, and Kirk walked), but yesterday’s hero, Brandon Belt, hit a soft fly to center.
• Bo led off with a double in the eighth but was stranded there. Vlad missed a pitch he should have crushed, popping up to center.
• We finally scored in the ninth. Kirk walked, and Danny Jansen, pinch-hitting, homered, tying the game. But after that, Whit Merrifield singled. But Cavan Biggio popped up a bunt attempt, and Springer hit into a double play.
• Manoah came out at 85 pitches. There was a fair bit of complaining, but the guy has had a rough season; taking him out while things were good didn’t seem a bad move.
• Bringing Yimi Garcia didn’t turn out to be a good move. Garcia got two outs and then gave up a single and a home run.
• With a tie game in the ninth, Jordan Romano came in. He gave up a hard-hit double to Anthony Rizzo that I thought would be a game-ending home run. Merrifield didn’t look great chasing the ball. Varsho, if he was in left, might have made the catch. But Kiermaier is going to get days off.
• A Gleyber Torres ground ball hit between Chapman and Bichette was an infield single. Bo got to the ball, but didn’t have a chance to make the throw to first. Unfortunately, at third, Chapman came off the bag, trying for the ball. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (in as pinch-runner) could third with no one for Bo to throw to. A walk and a single through a five-man drawn-in infield ended the game. Other than the double, nothing was hit hard off Romano. The game-winning hit would have been an out if the infield was back.
• Santiago Espinal was hit in the hand by a pitch and was taken out of the game. I hope nothing is broken, but we likely won’t hear until tomorrow.
• Kirk dropped a popup that hit his glove but came out again. A play he has to make.
• No Jay had more than one hit. Chapman (0 for 4, 2 k), Belt (0 for 3, 2 k), and Biggio (0 for 3) went hitless.

Jays of the Day: Manoah (.432 WPA), Jansen (.357) and Kirk (.138).

The Other Award: Romano (-.369, he wasn’t hit hard, but we needed strikeouts), Garcia (-.328), Chapman (-.203), Springer (-.175), Belt (-.163), Biggio (-.129) and Varsho (-.108).

Tomorrow is game 3 of the series. Kevin Gausman (1-2, 3.65) vs. Clarke Schmidt (0-1, 8.79 ERA in 4 starts). Maybe we can score a few runs? Maybe?