Friars Down Jays 2-0

Well, at leas the pitching was good!

After a great series against the Diamondbacks, the offence has looked lost against the Padres’ superior pitching, and they haven’t helped themselves on defence either. It’s only two games, and luckily the teams surrounding the Jays are mostly also slumping. On to tomorrow.

Jose Berrios was pretty good tonight, but a couple of mistakes at bad times and lack of support from his defence or lineup combined to saddle him with the loss.. He cruised through the first three innings, striking out 5 against just one walk and one hit. There was a little trouble in the fourth, as he walked Juan Soto for the second time and Xander Bogaerts hit an infield single that Matt Chapman probably could have made a play on. He was able to escape with another strikeout and a fly out, though.

San Diego got on the board in the fifth. Number nine hitter Trent Grisham worked a one out walk and Berrios hit Ha-Seong Kim. The Padres then attempted a double steal, and Bo Bichette made a bad throw with Grisham hung up between second and third that allowed him to get in safe. Berrios fell behind and then intentionally walked Soto (his third of the night). Manny Machado lined a broken bat single into centre, scoring two. It was all the Padres would get, but also more than they’d need. Berrios would stay in to handle the sixth. In all, he allowed two runs on four hits and four walks, striking out 9. His stuff was as good as I’ve seen it since he joined the team, but his location wasn’t consistently sharp and Juan Soto will make you pay for that like no other hitter in the league.

Yimi Garcia handled the seventh, and in spite of a Fernando Tatis jr. line double he escaped without further harm. Trevor Richards took the eighth, working around a Whit Merrifield error that allowed Luis Campusano to reach to record a clean inning. He also got the first out of the ninth, but then gave up two ground ball singles and was pulled to allow Tim Mayza to face Soto. Mayza got his man looking and then induced a Manny Machado fly out.

The Jays threatened Yu Darvish a couple of times, but never capitalized. In the first, George Springer singled, Bo Bichette walked (amazingly, his first in the month of July), and after back to back strikeouts Chapman walked to load the bases, but Merrifield lined out to end the opportunity. They added singles in the second and third but again couldn’t capitalize. In the fifth they got another man in scoring position, as Bichette lined a single and Brandon Belt walked, but it came to nothing. Darvish pitched six innings, walking three and giving up four hits but no runs.

They didn’t have any more luck against the bullpen. Steven Wilkinson worked a 1-2-3 seventh. Nick Martinez gave up singles to Bichette and Belt in the eighth but, and stop me if you’re tired of hearing this, the Jays could not bring the runners home. Finally, in the ninth Josh Hader blew them away, only allowing a runner because he grazed Danny Jansen’s hand pad.

Jays of the Day: Bo (0.125)

Not so much: Vlad (-0.200, looked awful at the plate), Chapman (-0.123), Merrifield (-0.202 and the error), Varsho (only -0.057 but the hat trick deserves a nod).

It’s a day game tomorrow to wrap up the series, thankfully. Chris Bassitt (9-5, 4.12) will need to be sharp to give them a shot against Blake Snell (6-7, 2.71). First pitch is 1:07pm ET