Jays Win a Close One

Blue Jays 4 Mariners 3

If you had told me we would only win 1 of 3 against the Mariners, I wouldn’t have guessed the win would have been in the Manoah start. I am a man of little faith.

It seems like we can’t have a blowout vs. the Mariners. Every game has to be close.

We got about the most we could have expected out of Alek Manoah today. He went 5.1 innings and allowed just 3 hits and 4 walks (maybe we could have a couple fewer walks) with 6 strikeouts. Unfortunately, one of those 3 hits was a two-run homer by Mike Ford. But, all-in-all, it was a pretty good start for Alek.

And, on offense, we got homers from Vladimir Guerrero and Brandon Belt.

We also got an old-fashioned run in the seventh. Whit Merrifield walked. Daulton Varsho bunted him to second. Pinch hitter Alejandro Kirk walked. And pinch hitter Santiago Espinal singled the go-ahead run in.

Unfortunately, George Springer followed that up with a double play ball. George is having a rough time with the bat lately.

The Jays' pen, once again, had to throw a few innings with little room for error. The high-leverage guys are working hard.

• Tim Mayza got the last two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. He gave up a run-scoring single in the sixth, costing Manoah an earned run. He gets the win.
• Erik Swanson got the last two outs of the seventh, working around his one-out single to Julio Rodriguez (who also stole second) but getting a strikeout and a pop-out (of Teoscar Hernandez, to protect our one-run lead.
• Trevor Richards came in for the eighth. He gave up a couple of high fly balls, but it was 3-up, 3-down.
• Jordan Romano is in for the ninth. He starts off the inning with a hit batter. He’s throwing everything to the third base side of the plate to start things. A stolen base made it that much tougher. And walking the next guy didn’t help, either. JP Crawford bunted the runners to second and third. With the infield in, Julio Rodriguez struck out (praise to the Baseball Gods). A flyout ended the game for save number 27 for Jordan. Man Jordan is a competitor.

Another day where we didn’t get enough out of our offense. Just 6 hits (2 home runs). No Jay had more than one hit.

But Vlad and Brandon each homered, and we got a timely hit from Espinal.

Jays of the Day: Espinal (.185, all on the pinch hit), Vlad (.184), Richards (.131), Belt (.130) and Romano.

The Other Award: Springer (-.258, 0 for 3 with a k) and Bo (-.108, 0 for 4, 2 k).

On the bad side. Danny Jansen left the game with a forearm contusion. X-rays were negative for anything broken, but he might need a day or two off.

Tomorrow we start a series in LA against the Dodgers. Another 10:00 start for you guys in the East. Jose Berrios (8-7, 3.39) vs. Michael Grove (2-2, 6.40)