Jays Lose A Frustrating Game

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees

Let’s talk about the eighth inning, because that’s the one that interests me.

• Kazuma Okamoto walked on six pitches to start it off.

• Jesús Sánchez walked on four pitches.

Kazuma Okamoto walked on six pitches to start it off.

Jesús Sánchez walked on four pitches.

Now John decided to pinch run for Sánchez. Seemed weird, as he wasn’t the lead runner. But then Okamoto had a pretty good chance of hitting in the ninth. Personally, thought, I’d have ran for Okamoto or no one, but I guess having Straw running reduced the chance of a double play.

Ernie Clement, asked to bunt, and popped it up for an out.

I HATE sac bunts. I wish I had the ability to underline things on this site, but I HATE THE SAC BUNT. To me, outs are the most precious thing in baseball, and handing one to the other team is dumb. Add in that Clement isn’t (apparently) good at bunting (well maybe he is, he had 7 last year) and that you just saw two guys walked, the last on four pitches…..I hate bunting after walks. Give the pitcher a chance to walk another. I know Ernie doesn’t tend to walk. But still, he does tend to make good contact.

To add to the issue of the bunt, you have rookie Brandon Valenzuela up next. Yes he’s been very good, but he would be in a tough spot. And he was still in a tough spot and he struck out. Might have been a good spot to pinch hit with Kirk? Maybe. I don’t know, Valenzuela’s been one of out best hitters.

Next up is Charles McAdoo is up next. Could, again, pinch hit with Kirk. That would cause a lot of issues in the defensive half of the inning. Tough call. I think I’d have used Kirk for Valenzuela. But I would have used him for McAdoo for sure and dealt with the defensive issues later.

Another in a string of missed chances today.

Then, in the bottom of the inning Louis Varland comes in and gives up a single to Cody Bellinger and a home run to Paul Goldschmidt. Varland hasn’t giving up a home run this season, until today. And it is the first time Varland has given up more than a run in an outing.

The bottom of the ninth was three strikeouts, Giménez, Springer and Lukes.

Beyond that, we had 6 hits and 7 walks, so you would think we could score more than one run. Okamoto homered in the third.

• Loaded bases in the second (with two outs).

• We had runners on second and third, with one out in the fourth. Being fair, McAdoo hit a liner up the middle but Jazz Chisholm made a terrific catch.

• We had the first two batters walk in the fifth and got a double play (Okamoto) and a strikeout (Jesús Sánchez).

• A one out single in the sixth, then a double play.

• A one out bunt single by Giménez (who seemed to jam fingers diving into first. Generally, you should never dive into first, but Giménez may have wanted to avoid a possible tag on the play). But a ground out (Springer) and a strikeout (Lukes) ended that one.

Loaded bases in the second (with two outs).

We had runners on second and third, with one out in the fourth. Being fair, McAdoo hit a liner up the middle but Jazz Chisholm made a terrific catch.

We had the first two batters walk in the fifth and got a double play (Okamoto) and a strikeout (Jesús Sánchez).

A one out single in the sixth, then a double play.

A one out bunt single by Giménez (who seemed to jam fingers diving into first. Generally, you should never dive into first, but Giménez may have wanted to avoid a possible tag on the play). But a ground out (Springer) and a strikeout (Lukes) ended that one.

Cam Schlittler is a very good pitcher, who had a bad day, but we should have may him pay (by the way, had you gone to school with that last name when I went to school, you would have had to change it). We did seem to have a good game plan against him, until we got runners on base. 1 for 10 with RISP.

Kevin Gausman was terrific. 7 innings, 1 hit (a home run by Jasson Domínguez), 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts.

Tyler Rogers pitched the eighth, getting two quick outs and then had a very soft ground ball roll up the middle and into center field. That’s going to happen to a ground ball pitcher occasionally to a ground ball pitcher. Then a much harder ground ball to put runners on the corners. But McAdoo made a terrific diving play on the next ground ball that looked like it would be another single.

Jays of the Day: Gausman (0.31 WPA), Rogers (0.11, though he owes some of that to McAdoo), and Piñango (0.09, for a hit and two walks).

Other Award: Varland (-0.41), McAdoo (-0.23, but he had a couple of nice defensive plays), Giménez (-0.15) and Clement (-0.13, some of that on the stupid bunt, but if you are asked to bunt, put it on the ground).

Tomorrow we have Patrick Corbin (2-3, 4.55) vs. Will Warren (7-1, 3.41). A win please.