That was stressful, especially after yesterday’s nightmare ending. It was close all game, with the Jays just edging out to what seemed like a comfortable lead in the late innings before nearly throwing it all away again in the ninth. In the end they hung on by a fingernail.
The deadline additions played a huge role tonight:
- Jose Soriano showed both why he’s had some struggles and why he can be so effective in spite of that. His sinker and curveball generated plenty of ground ball contact plus some swings and misses. His four hits and three walks against three strikeouts over 4.2 doesn’t stand out, but there was a lot to like and he left his team in a position to win.
- Josh Smith was 3-4 with a home run on his 29th birthday. The homer was a moonshot to centre field, giving hope that the power outage that’s wrecked his season was related to his first half injuries and might be behind him. He also stole a base
- Brett Bateman’s first MLB plate appearance, indeed his first swing at his first pitch, was a double crushed off the top of the wall the other way. Then he worked a pair of walks later in the ballgame.
- Matt Waldron, who was a minor league signing and not a trade acquisition, worked a solid eighth inning with a strikeout.
They Jays took an early lead in the second inning on an Andres Gimenez solo home run. It would be short lived, though. In the bottom half, Soriano issued a two out walkd and Jesus Sanchez badly misplayed a ground ball single, letting it get past him to the wall and allowing the runner to score from first. That established a pattern. In the third, Brett Bateman took his first MLB pitch, a Zach Wheeler fastball at the top of the zone, and lined it high off the left field wall for a double. He advanced on a ground out and came around to score on an Alejandro Kirk sac fly, staking the Jays to their second one run lead. Again it was erased in the next half inning, as Kyle Schwarber doubled down the left field line and came around to score on a Bryce Harper single.
Their third lead of the night came in the fourth. Josh Smith hit a two out single, Bateman worked a walk, and Nathan Lukes hit a grounder into right. Smith comfortably beat the throw home to put Toronto in front 3-2. That lead would hold up for a while. Soriano worked around a walk in the home half with the help of a double play. After a Sanchez double was stranded in the top of the fifth, he got himself into a jam by issuing a leadoff walk and then a soft line double that put men on second and third. He rallied with back to back strikeouts before giving way to Mason Fluharty, who punched Bryce Harper out to end the threat.
The Jays added to their lead in the sixth. Smith singled again, and Bateman’s second walk of the night advanced him to scoring position. At that point, Zach Wheeler was at 101 pitches after an uncharacteristically wild performance that featured a season high five walks. Lukes gave him an absolute war, battling him for 14 pitches before lining the 15th into right for an RBI single to make it 4-2. Lazaro Estrada preserved that margin in the bottom half, working a scoreless inning around a walk.
Old friend Tim Mayza, who’d finished off the sixth after Lukes knocked Wheeler out, set the Jays down in order in the seventh. Estrada got one out but then issued his second walk. Brendon Little took over and after a lineup walked the next two batters he saw, loading the bases with two out. He got Harper to fly out softly to centre, though, escaping the jam.
One more insurance run came in the eighth on a Josh Smith solo home run to centre field off Caleb Kilian. Matt Waldron made his Blue Jays debut in the eighth, recording a clean inning with a strikeout. George Springer singled and stole second in the top of the ninth, but was stranded.
That brought it down to Tyler Rogers for the save attempt. It didn’t go smoothly. He walked the first two batters, and Schwarber ticked Kirk’s glove on a check swing for a catcher’s interference to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate. Treat Turner hit a one hopper to first, which Okamoto fielded and threw to second. The Jays had a chance for a double play, but Gimenez bobbled the transfer and they only got the out at second. Next, Harper hit a grounder into the second base gap. Clement got there but bobbled it, allowing the runner at third to score and putting the tying run at second and the winning run at first. A walk loaded the bases and put both in scoring position. A couple of tough fielding plays narrowly got the Jays out of it. First, Rogers managed to get a chopper that Clement fielded behind the mound. His throw narrowly beat Turner home, forcing him for the second out. Next, Brandon Marsh hit a grounder similar to Harpers’ into the second base hole. Clement fielded it cleanly, but Okamoto had gone for the ball before turning back to cover and didn’t look likely to make it back in time to beat Marsh. Luckily, Rogers had gone to cover himself and narrowly won the race to the bag for the game ending out.
Jays of the Day: Lukes (0.15), Smith (0.12), Bateman (0.10), and while no individual reliever qualifies all of them except Rogers can share a nod for quality relief work
Less so: Okamoto (-0.12)
Tomorrow we get the most exciting pitching matchup of 2018, as Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.92) faces Aaron Nola (3-9, 5.55). First pitch is set for 6:05pm ET.
