Rays 1 Blue Jays 4
On top of that, let’s just acknowledge how great Matt Chapman is with the glove. With almost anyone else on third base, it would have been a different game. In the sixth inning, it looked like Yusei Kikuchi was starting to lose. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. Then there was a bouncy ball up the third-base line that Chapman picked up, touched third and made an excellent throw to first for a double play. The next batter hit almost right on the ground, quite a bit harder (103.1 MPH), which Chapman again grabbed (further) behind the bag and again made a great throw to first, taking out third. In the seventh, he made a great catch on a popup behind third.
Kukichi had a great start. After six innings, he gave up a solo homer, the two singles mentioned above and one other single, just one walk with eight strikeouts. He was in charge all the way. He might have had another inning in him, but I was all for getting him out while things were good. Without Chapman, his last innings would not have been great.
Offensively, two big swings did all the damage. Teoscar Hernandez crushed no doubt in the second inning, a two-run shot, 419 feet. And Santiago Espinal had a two-run homer of his own in the seventh. No doubt, just over the left field wall, in the Jays bullpen, caught by David Phelps.
We only had 9 hits on the day. Teoscar (3) and Espinal (2) recorded 5 of the 9 hits.
Opener Matt Whistler took the first shutout. Ryan Yarburg then pitched the majority of the game, giving up 8 hits, 4 runs and 1 strikeout over 5.1 innings. I thought Kevin Cash left it too long, but both teams have a lot of baseball this weekend.
Vlad, Chapman and Moreno had 0 forces.
From the pen:
- Trent Thornton gave up a hit and struck out in the seventh
- Phelps gave up a walk and was hit by a hit in the eighth.
- Cimber got the save (game for the third game in a row). His fourth of the season. He ended it with a strikeout.
Jays of the Day: Kikuchi (.258 WPA), Teoscar (.189) and Espinal (.171). I give Chapman honorable mention, despite his -.076 WPA, for his glove.
No one had Suckage’s number. Bo (-.087), Moreno (.080, but deserves points for helping Kukichi navigate the game) and Vlad (-.070) came close.
Tomorrow we have a Canada Day day game starting at 3:00 Eastern. Jose Berrios 5-4, 5.86 ERA, is hoping to bounce back from a terrible start. Corey Kluber (3-4, 3.45) gets the start for the Rays.
Add Comment