Blue Jays 3 Orioles 4
Sometimes you make the right moves and yet they don’t work out.
Bottom of the eighth Mason Fluharty pitching. He gave up a leadoff walk. Then got a pop out and a fly out. With Pete Alonso up, John brought in Tyler Rogers. I liked the call. But….Alonso hit his third pitch a mile (well 400 feet) and that was the ball game. It was Alonso’s second home run of the day. And fifth in his last six games.
We scored three in the first and the batters went on strike after that.
In the first, Brett Bateman and Alejandro Kirk each walked to start the game. Nathan Lukes singled one home. George Springer singled in Kirk. And Sean Keys hit a sac fly for out third (and last) run.
We got two on with no outs in the third but Keys flied out and Kazuma Okamoto ground into a double play. Other than that, there were a bunch of three up three down innings.
Other than the bullpen blowing the game, it was much like the most of the season. We couldn’t score. Just 6 hits in all, all singles. Springer had two of the singles.
Added to the fun was an awkward catch by Bateman in the second inning, where his left knee hit the ground hard. He came out of the game, limping. They say nothing structural, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is done for the season.
Trey Yesavage started (or opened) and gave up Alonso’s first home run, but that was his only hit allowed, and he had three strikeouts.
Brendan Cellucci got the next four out, three of them strikeouts.
Chad Dallas got eight outs, giving up an Gunnar Henderson home run.
José Rodríguez got three outs.
And then Fluharty and Rogers. The Rogers’ pitch? Missed the spot, it was mean to be on (of just off) the inside edge and instead it was pretty much center cut. These things happen. Maybe score more than three runs and this wouldn’t matter. That’s pretty much baseball, there will be that pitch that isn’t where it was supposed to be and, if you are lucky, you will hit it well. I always laugh when baseball people say ‘he only made one mistake’. No, pitchers make mistakes all the time, and most of the time, it still isn’t a home run. But the time that they hit the mistake, it can go a long way.
Jays of the Day: Dallas (0.13 WPA), Springer (0.12) and Rodríguez (0.11)
Other Award: Rogers (-0.62, hardly fair really), Okamoto (-0.13), Keys (-0.11) and Smith (-0.10).
Anyway, it has been a ride. I’ve said that I’ve lived through a lot of Jays seasons when we didn’t have meaningful baseball in September. This year, we made it this far with meaningful baseball, which makes it better than most years.
Tomorrow we have Max Scherzer (3-8, 6.07) vs. Chris Bassitt (8-5, 4.64). A 6:30 Eastern start time (barring rain).
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