A good all around win. Dylan Cease was effectively wild, as they say, the bullpen was terrific, and while the offence wasn’t explosive the did enough in key moments (very much out of character).
Toronto loaded the bases with two outs in the first, on singles by Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Eloy Jimenez and a Kazuma Okamoto grounder that might have ticked off Vlad’s toe, causing Angels shortstop Zach Neto to bobbke it, but Lenyn Sosa struck out to prevent them from capitalizing. In the second, Daulton Varsho was hit by a pitch (on his elbow guard, it looked like, and he didn’t appear to be in significant pain) but again they could not bring him home. They got on the board in the third. Davis Schneider lead off with a walk and one batter later Vlad clubbed a two run homer to straightaway centre, putting the Jays on top 2-1. The bats went quiet at that point, though, with Reid Detmers sitting down the next eight batters to get through the fifth. Vlad and Jimenez each singled again to open the sixth. Okamoto hit a ground ball into the hole that Neto made a beautiful play on to turn and throw Jimenez out at second, putting men on the corners with one out. Sosa hit a sac fly to left that pushed Vlad across to give them a 3-2 lead. Detmers returned for one batter in the seventh, walking Myles Straw. Tyler Heineman laid down a sact bunt against reliever Chase Silseth to advance Straw, and a Nathan Lukes, hitting for Schneider, singled to extend the lead to 4-2.
Dylan Cease looked good, but the Angels got a run off him on the first on a pair of ground balls. The first, by Nolan Schanuel, went for a double, and the second, by Jorge Soler just ticked off a diving Ernie Clement’s glove and into left to score the runner. He got through the second with just a line single, but more trouble loomed in the third. Neto walked and Mike Trout reached on an infield single, then the two executed a perfect double steal to put two in scoring position with none out. A Schanuel sac fly tied the game at two. Cease walked Yoan Moncada but got out of it without giving up a lead with a strikeout. He had his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, picking up his eighth and ninth strikeouts on the way. Following a Neto single, his 10th, 11th, and 12th got him through the fifth. That would be the end, though. It took him 110 pitches to get there, allowing two runs on five hits and a pair of walks.
Braydon Fisher was the first guy out of the pen, getting a double play to erase a walk in a scoreless bottom of six. Louis Varland did him one better, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh.
Okamoto walked off Shaun Anderson in the eighth, but that was it. Varland returned to strike out Trout before giving way to Tyler Rogers. Andres Gimenez, who’d hit for Sosa in the top half of the inning, booted a routine grounder to allow Schanuel to reach, but Rogers recovered by getting the next two innings.
Straw singled to open the ninth. A passed ball allowed him to go to second, and Heineman sac bunted him over to third. That allowed him to come home on a Lukes grounder off Anderson’s leg, expanding the gap to three runs. Jeff Hoffman wasn’t his sharpest, but after a Jo Adell single he struck out the next three Angels to lock down the win.
Jays of the Day: Vlad (0.25), Lukes (0.12), Varland (0.13)
Less So: Heineman just qualifies, but he got hit by about a dozen foul balls today so I’ll give a reprieve and say nobody.
It’s another 9:38pm ET start tomorrow. Jack Kochanowicz (2-0, 3.47) takes the mound for the Angels, while Patrick Corbin (0-0, 4.66) will hopefully look more like his second Blue Jays start than his first.
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