Jays Beat Cardinals

Cardinals 1 Blue Jays 3

A very nice win.

Dylan Cease maybe wasn’t as good as he’s been in his last couple of starts, but he was still very good. 6 inning, just 3 hits, 3 walks with 7 strikeouts, and 1 run against. A pretty good month for Cease, 5 starts, 36 innings, 4 earned runs, a 1.00 ERA. Oh and 46 strikeouts.

But he didn’t get the win today.

Spencer Miles threw a scoreless inning, with 1 hit and 2 walks.

Jeff Hoffman got the win, with a scoreless inning, no baserunners, 2 strikeouts.

And Louis Varland gave up a single in the ninth, picked up his 24th save.

On offense, 9 hits and 4 walks, but we didn’t score until the sixth. Vladimir Guerrero led off with a double off the center field wall, roughly two feet too low for a home run. 112.4 mph. The hardest hit ball of the game

Kazuma Okamoto followed with his own double down the left field line, tying the game at one.

Then, in the eighth, we got two more. With one out, George Springer walked and Daulton Varsho each walked. Ernie Clement, also walked, after swinging at a ball that was a long way inside. But then he didn’t swing at the next one that was low and outside. Bases loaded.

John decided to pinch hit Luis Urías for Davis Schneider and Luis single two home. Unfortunately, Brandon Valenzuela hit into a double play to end the inning.

We also loaded the bases in the seventh, with one out on singles from Brandon Valenzuela and Andrés Giménez had singles. And Myles Straw took a pitch off the elbow. No padding. I was surprised that he stayed in the game. I hope he’s ok tomorrow. But Vlad hit into a double play.

We also had two runners on in the third and fifth innings, but didn’t score.

There was some rough defensive moments too. Especially from Ernie Clement, who made a couple of misplays on ground balls. Vlad had a very good day with the glove.

Jays of the Day: On the pitching side: Cease (0.18 WPA), Hoffman (0.11) and Miles (0.09). And an honourable mention to Varland (0.07). Hitting side: Urías (0.18), Straw (0.09) and Okamoto (0.09).

Other Award: Vlad (-0.18, mostly on the double play ball).

Tomorrow we have a 3:00 Eastern start time. Lefty Quinn Mathews making his first MLB appearance vs. Kevin Gausman (4-10, 4.51) making likely his last start for the Blue Jays.