The Blue Jays were coming off another disappointing week against Houston and Chicago, but they can rebound quickly with who their opponents are this week. On the Schedule for Toronto was 7 games all in the AL East division, with 4 games against Boston, followed by 3 games against the Yankees.
Here is where we’ll break it all down.
Game 1: Jays 5 – 6 Red Sox
The Jays would get out in front in the 1st with an RBI single from Teoscar Hernandez. Toronto would add 2 more in the next inning with RBI singles from both Bo Bichette and Teo, making it 3-0. Bobby Dalbec would get 1 back in the bottom of the 3rd with a solo home run off Ross Stripling. The 6th inning was big for both teams, as in the top half Vladimir Guerrero Jr hit his 19th HR of the season, a 2-run shot to make it 5-1. Stripling was cruising along until the 6th, he’d give up an RBI single to Hunter Renfrow, and leave the game with two men on base to be replaced by Tyler Chatwood. With the bases loaded, Chatwood would walk in a run, and throw a wild pitch to causes another run to cross to make it 5-4. Tim Mayza would come in to stop the rally. Boston would keep pushing and on this night we’re just too much. Christian Arroyo would hit a game tying home run in the 8th, and Alex Verdugo would hit a ball off the green monster in left to cash in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Tough start for the Blue Jays.
Game 2: Jays 7 – 2 Red Sox
Vladdy is on fire right now, and he continued his great play with a 2-run shot in the 1st inning. The Jays would add to their lead in the 5th inning when Cavan Biggio, Marcus Semien, and Bo Bichette all hit home runs making it 6-0. Reese McGuire would also hit a HR in the 9th inning for extra insurance. Steven Matz would get his 7th win on the year, as he had solid outing going 5 2/3 innings only giving up 1 run. This was a good bounce back game for the Jays.
Game 3: Jays 18 – 4 Red Sox
The trend of the Jays getting on the board quickly continued in this game, when the Jays put up 4 runs in the 1st, highlighted by a Teoscar Hernandez 3-run home run. The runs would keep coming in this game as Toronto would score in all but 2 innings, and put up 4 runs in both the 4th and 5th inning. The Blue Jays hit 7 home runs, and this game never really in doubt. Robbie Ray picked up his 4th win of the season. This was an example of how explosive the Blue Jays bats can be!
Game 4: Jays 1 – 2 Red Sox
This was a pitching dual between Alek Manoah and Nathan Eovaldi. Manoah had his best outing since his debut, going 6 innings and only giving up an RBI double to Alex Verdugo in the 3rd, and striking out 5 Red Sox. Eovaldi had a great game as well, going 6 2/3 innings, only giving up 3 hits, and no runs allowed. The game was 1-0 Boston going into the bottom of the 9th, were Vladdy would hit his 4th HR of the series, tying the game at 1. The momentum didn’t last long for Toronto, as the Struggling Rafael Dolis would come and surrender the walk off hit to Rafael Devers.
Jays Series Standout:
This one is extremely easy. Is there any player in the Majors who is hitting like Vladimir Guerrero Jr right now. He had himself a monster series, too bad the Jays could only salvage a split.
Game 1: Jays 5 – 6 Yankees
The Jays would continue their run of scoring early when Teoscar Hernandez would hit a sac fly making it 1-0 Toronto after the 1st inning. Gary Sanchez would get that right back with a solo home run off Jays Starter Hyun Jin Ryu in the top of the 2nd. Bo Bichette would hit a solo HR in the 3rd, and then 2-run single in the 4th, to make it 5-2 Blue Jays. Ryu would leave the game after 6 innings with the score 5-3, and that’s when the wheels would fall off for the Jays. A home run by Brett Gardner, a wild pitch, and an RBI double by Clint Frazier, would see the Yankees take their only lead of the game, but they would hold on for the win in game 1. Yankees bullpen did their job , while Toronto’s didn’t.
Game 2: Jays 2 – 3 Yankees
The Yankees would load the bases in the top of the 1st inning with nobody out, but would only manage a sac fly from Giancarlo Stanton as Ross Stripling got out of early trouble. Marcus Semien would get that run back in the bottom half of the inning with a lead off HR, his 16th bomb of the year. Cavan Biggio would give Toronto the lead when he hit a solo shot of his own in the 5th inning to make it 2-1 Jays. Stripling was stayed out of trouble until the 7th inning, when Gary Sanchez would hit a 2-run home run to give the New York the 3-2 lead. Just like on Tuesday night, the Yankees pen shut the Jays down the rest of the way. How often have we seen Toronto give up leads in the 7th inning or later…
Game 3: Jays 4 – 8 Yankees
Toronto looked like they’d be getting off to a good start as usual, with men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, when Vladdy would ground back to the pitcher for out one at 1st base, then things got crazy. Bo Bichette went from 2nd to 3rd, but Marcus Semien didn’t go home, leading to both guys being tagged for the super rare triple play! with the Yankees leading 3-0 in the 3rd, Toronto would get 2 back thanks to a Reese McGuire RBI double, and a Bichette RBI force out. A Semien RBI groundout would tie the game, and a RBI single from Randal Grichuk would give the Jays the 4-3 lead. Cavan Biggio looked to have added to the lead, but a great catch at the wall by Aaron Judge robbed Biggio of a home run. The Toronto bullpen couldn’t keep the lead (stop me if you’ve this before…) in the top of the 7th, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a 2-run homer to give New York the lead, and a 2-run single by Chris Gittens closed out the 4 run inning. The Yankees would add 1 more in the 9th, completing the sweep.
Jays Series Standout:
It’s hard to pick a standout for a team that was just swept, but I’ll go with Bo Bichette for picking 4 RBI’s in the series.
The Blue Jays really missed a big opportunity to win some big games against AL East rivals, and it was a huge blow to end the week by being swept by the Yankees. The next stretch of games will be really important after such a disappointing week. First up will be a 3 game series against the Orioles, then another 2 game set with the Marlins, before getting ready for another 4 games against Baltimore.
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.
As always, make sure to check out all the latest posts at Hot Sauce Sports and stop by our Youtube channel for all the podcast and interviews.
Here is the latest edition of the Chtib and Zhang show, were the boys are breaking down the NHL Playoffs and Zhang gives us his opinions on the New landscape of boxing.