Jays Finish Sweep of Pirates

Jays 10 Pirates 1

What a difference 3 days make. We were depressed with the team, the pitching, the bats, the bullpen, and the defense. Now life is good.

A great day for the bats again. Brandon Belt had 3 hits and a walk, bringing his average to .225 (he came into the game with a .194 BA, one of my poll questions was asking if his batting average would be over .200 by the end of the game). He’s this year's example of why you don’t jump the gun on declaring a player ‘finished’. Not that a few good games mean a ton.

We got two hits each from Bo Bichette, Daulton Varsho (who had his 5th home run of the season), Whit Merrifield (with his first home run of the year), Danny Jansen (who still has some work to do to get to a .200 BA), and Kevin Kiemaier (who hit his second home run of the year).

The only Jay without a hit was Santiago Espinal. But he played short to give Bo a half day off.

It was 5-1 before a 5-run ninth inning. Surprisingly, Jordan Romano came into the game with one out in the bottom of the eighth when Yimi Garcia allowed a run to score and loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the play while getting just one out. Romano got the last two outs of the inning.

Then, in the top of the ninth, Varsho hit a 2-run homer. Then, after a Brandon Belt single (just inches away from a home run, his second hit off the outfield wall today), Jansen had an RBI double and then Kiermaier homered to make it 10-1.

After that, Romano didn’t need to stay in the game, so Nate Pearson pitched the ninth, allowing just a single.

Yusei Kikuchi picked up his 5th win (with no losses). He didn’t get his usual allotment of strikeouts, just 3 today, but allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks in his 6.1-innings shutout innings. His ERA is now 3.35 ERA.

Jays of the Day: Merrifield (.281 WPA), Kikuchi (.226), and Romano (.124). Let’s give one to Belt as well (.081) because getting on base 4 times is useful.

The Other Award: Garcia (-.094).

Tomorrow is an off day, so we can bask in our sweep for an extra day.