The Toronto Blue Jays’ season got off to a good start when they travelled to New York and took 2 of 3 games to win their first series against an A.L division rival. The next series started off good when the Jays won the first game in Texas, but then lost the next two to finish .500 after the first week of games were in the book.
This week we’ll be focusing on the 4 game series vs. The Los Angeles Angels, which included the home opener, and then the 3 game stop vs. The Yankees. How’d the Jays do? Find out here in the Blue Jays week in review.
Game 1: Jays 5 – 7 Angels (11 innings)
The ending of the Texas series wasn’t great, and the start of the Angels series wasn’t much better. Vladdy and Cavan both hit their 2nd Home Runs of the season, but the big story here for the Jays, was the 14 runners left on base. Julian Merryweather finally looked hittable in this game but still went 2.0 innings with no runs allowed. Ryan Borucki wasn’t as lucky, as he would surrender the 2 go ahead runs in the 11th inning as the Jays dropped the opener.
Teoscar Hernandez was put on the IL after coming in contact with someone with a positive case of COVID-19.
Game 2: Jays 1 – 7 Angels
This game was all Angels, and the one leading the charge was Shohei Ohtani. He came out with the bases loaded, delivered a bases clearing double, and later in the game hit a monster Home Run. Andrew Heaney also delivered a great outing for Los Angeles, as he went 6.0 innings giving up only 3 hits while striking out 9, and not allowing a run. The Angels took control of this one early and never looked back.
Game 3: Jays 15 – 1 Angels
The Jays ended their 4 game slide in a BIG way! Steven Matz had another strong outing going 6 innings while only giving up 1 run. The Jays finally put together some timely hitting and racked up 15 runs without hitting a Home Run. Bo Bichette led the way with 5 RBI’s and Vlad Guerrero Jr and Randal Grichuk had 3 RBI’s each. Josh Palacios had a great second career game going 4-4 with a walk and came around to score 4 times. It was a much needed offensive explosion, and it avoided the series sweep.
Game 4: Postponed –
Jays Series Standout:
I think I’ll show some love for the SP’s here and give it to Steven Matz. He recorded his second straight win and has an ERA of under 1.50 on the season.
Game 1: Jays 1 – 3 Yankees.
The opener of the Yankees series was an all around tough day for the Jays. They were only able to muster 1 run that came in the first inning on a Randal Grichuk RBI groundout. Robbie Ray made his debut, and pitched a pretty good 5 innings only giving up a 2-run HR to Kyle Higashioka, which would ultimately be the difference. Higashioka would homer for a second time in the 8th before Aroldis Chapman came in and shut the door in the 9th.
Game 2: Jays 7 – 3 Yankees
The second game would be much better for the Blue Birds, as they would finally make something of another great outing from Hyun Jin Ryu. Ryu would go 6 2/3 innings only allowing 1 run, but 0 earned. The Jays were able to jump on Jameson Taillon early and chase him from the game in the 4th inning and it was smooth sailing from there. Marcus Semien would hit his 4th HR of the season and Rowdy Tellez who’s gotten off to a terrible start to the year, finally hit his first dinger of the year.
Game 3: Jays 5 – 4 Yankees
The rubber match of the series was all about the long ball. Aaron Judge would take TJ Zeuch deep twice before Zeuch was pulled after allowing 4 runs in 4 innings of work. The Jays would also chase Yankees’ starter Corey Kluber after 4 innings as he would surrender HR’s to Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette. The Jays relievers would combine to work 5 innings of shutout baseball setting the stage for Bo Bichette to hit walk off home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Blue Jays series win.
Jays Series Standout:
Bo Bichette is the obvious choice here for me as the walk off hero against a rival team sending his club off to the next series on a high.
Toronto now sit at 6-6 on the year and they shift their focus to the Kansas City Royals as they head back out on the road for a 4 game set, followed by a mini 2 game series in Boston to facing the Red Sox.
You can catch every inning of Toronto Blue Jays baseball on Rogers Sportsnet, and check in here weekly at Hot Sauce Sports for the breakdown.
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