The Blue Jays should be feeling refreshed and pumped up from Vladdy’s performance at the All Star game. The performance by Guerrero was fantastic, but now his, and the whole team’s focus needs to get back on track to catching the Red Sox at the top of the AL East. They had two 3 game series this week, first against the Texas Rangers, and then against the Boston Red Sox.
Game 1: Jays 10 – 2 Rangers
Vladdy continued his great performances in this game, and got the Jays on the board first in the 1st inning with a solo home run. In the 3rd inning the Jays added 4 more with home runs from Marcus Semien, Teo Hernandez, and Randal Grichuk to make it 5-0. In the 6th inning, Toronto put this out of reach with another 4 run inning capped by another home run by Vladdy, this time a 3-run shot. Robbie Ray had another great day, and picked up his 8th win of the season. He went 6 2/3 innings, while not giving up a run, and striking out 8 batters. This one finished 10-2 for Toronto.
Game 2: Jays 5 – 0 Rangers (7 innings)
This game was the first half of a double header due to the game being postponed on Saturday. Hyun Jin Ryu was the star for Toronto this game, he went the distance for a 7 inning shutout. He only allowed 3 hits, and struck out 4 along the way. The offence came from RBIs by Bo Bichette, Randal Grichuk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr, Marcus Semien, and a solo shot by Danny Jansen. Ryu’s 9th win of the season never looked in doubt, and the Jays took game 2 by a score of 5-0.
Game 3: Jays 10 – 0 Rangers (7 innings)
The Jays were able to complete the sweep in the second half of the double header, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr hit a grand slam in the 1st inning, and the Blue Jays were up 6-0 very early. Toronto then put this one out of reach in the 2nd when Guerrero, Springer, and Randal Grichuk all hit homers to make it 10-0 after 2 innings. Steven Matz, Rafael Dolis, and Tayler Saucedo combined for 7 innings of shutout work, and another game over that was never in doubt.
Jays Series Standout:
This was easily the best series of the season for the Jays, and this can go to a lot of different players. I’ll give it to Vladdy Guerrero Jr, he hit 3 homers in the series, and is now up to 31 on the season.
Game 1: Jays 4 – 13 Red Sox
Even though the Jays were coming off a big sweep of the Rangers, they need to continue that against the division leading, Boston Red Sox. Game 1 didn’t go according to plan…The Red Sox put up 8 runs in the 1st inning off Jays starter Ross Stripling, who was only able to get 1 out before being removed from the game. It was 12-0 before the Jays scored any runs, they had 4 in the 4th inning, but that was all they got. Boston took control early, and never let the Blue Jays back in it.
Game 2: Postponed
Game 3: Jays 4 – 7 Red Sox
Robbie Ray was on the mound for Toronto and for the first time in a while, Ray struggled. He only went 5 innings, giving up 4 runs and 3 home runs. He left the game trailing 4-1. Guerrero got the Jays on the board with his 32nd HR of the season in the 4th inning, and in the 6th inning, back-to-back home runs by George Springer and Teo Hernandez closed the gap to 5-4. The Red Sox would put this out of reach in the 8th inning, when JD Martinez and Hunter Renfroe hit back-to-back dingers off Jays reliever Jordan Romano to make it 7-4. That’s how this one would end.
Jays Series Standout:
Not the best series for Toronto, so not much to choose from. I’ll go with George Springer, who had 4 hits in the series, including a HR.
Another frustrating way to end the week for Toronto. They could’ve started the week out any better, just to follow that up with 2 losses to the division leaders. Up next for Toronto are 3 games against the New York Mets, and then a 4 game series against the Boston 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.
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 episode of the Chtib and Zhang show, where the boys are talking Seattle Kraken Expansion plans.