Our Jays have been making a strong push to make the playoffs, and going 3-1 against the Red Sox was a big help. They’d need to continue on with big series like that if they’re going to have a chance. Toronto only have 5 games this week, which is a nice break from the 8 they had last week. It was a 3 game set in Seattle, before a mini 2 game series against Washington.
Game 1: Jays 2 – 3 Mariners
The 1st game of the series saw the Jays turn to Robbie Ray, who again was solid. He went 7 strong innings, and the only damage he allowed was a 2-run homer to Tom Murphy in the bottom of the 3rd. Lourdes Gurriel Jr got those 2 runs back in the 4th when his 2-out hit cashed in a pair. This one would stay tied until the 9th where Jarred Kelenic would be the hero for Seattle and come up clutch with the walk off walk.
Game 2: Jays 3 – 9 Mariners
The Jays would go down 2-0 early, but would battle back to take a 3-2 lead in the 5th thanks to an RBI from Gurriel Jr, and 2 RBIs from Teo Hernandez which included a HR. Hyun Jin Ryu was on the mound for the Jays, and after his early troubles he was cruising until the 7th. He’d get into trouble and depend on the bullpen to get him out of it. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case. The Jays would give up 4 runs in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th, to end up losing a very winnable game. The bullpen will need to pitch much better then this if they want a shot at the playoffs.
Even worse was George Springer leaving the game with grade 1 knee sprain. He’s been placed on the 10 day DL.
Game 3: Jays 8 – 3 Mariners
At least the Jays would be able to manage 1 win in this series. Toronto got out in front early on, and kept it that way. Home runs from Hernandez, Grichuk, Dickerson, and Semien were the highlights of the 8 runs they scored. Steven Matz was on the mound and even though he didn’t have his best stuff, it was enough to earn himself his 10th win of the season and 1 of the 3 games in Seattle.
Jays Series Standout:
Teoscar Hernandez is the standout in this series, as his 20th HR of the season was 1 of 3 hits he recorded in the lone win of the series.
Game 1: Jays 6 – 12 Nationals
Alek Manoah was the Jays starting pitcher in game 1, and he got roughed up. The 3rd inning was disastrous, and even though he’d get out of the inning himself, he’d leave the game down 7-1. The Jays would mount a comeback, with Teoscar Hernandez homering for the 3rd straight game. The closest Toronto would come was 8-6 in the 8th, before the bullpen would let them down, allow 4 more runs to put this one out of reach.
Game 2: Jays 5 – 8 Nationals
Jose Berrios was on the bump for the Jays, and although he struggled in the 1st, giving up 3 runs, he was able to go 5 innings only allowing those 3 runs. That gave Toronto a chance, and like they did in game 1, they came from behind and actually took the lead in the 7th inning. 2 home runs from Marcus Semien, and a HR each from Chris Dickerson and Teoscar Hernandez (his 4th in a row) had Toronto out in front 5-4. But again the bullpen would let the team down as Brad Hand wouldn’t get out of the inning before surrendering the lead and 3 more runs, causing the Jays to be swept in the 2 game series.
Jays Series Standout:
I’m going to give this to Teo Hernandez again as he’s got a 4 game HR streak going and that’s one of the few bright spots this week.
This was a huge opportunity missed by Toronto this week as the series loss to the Mariners, a team their fighting with for the wild card, could’ve gone a long way for Toronto if they could’ve capitalized. Even more disappointing was the 2 losses to Washington who are well below .500 on the year. Anyways, next chance for the Jays are a couple AL Central opponents, as they have 3 games against Detroit, before 4 games against the White Sox.
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Here is the latest episode of the Chtib and Zhang show, where the boys are doing a big NFL breakdown.