Do not leave Jay’s toys early. This is the moral of today. Games like this are not offered for nice neat summaries. The game did not start well. I confess that I hate the long “celebrations” at the beginning of the games. Today? They had videos. They gave Silver Slugger awards. Gold award glove. Hank Aaron Award. They had presented a bunch of Canadian Olympians. The giant flag was out. The Honor Guard was coming out. More videos. I do not know why it all has to happen on the same day. Do the Olympics tomorrow. Give the prizes on Sunday. Limit the number of videos. Share them. So, Jose Berrios leaves at 7:40. That is, he is a professional. He should be able to handle it. But the pitchers, and the rest of us, are creatures of habit. Go to the pen, warm up and get into the game. Today … warming up. More warming up. Rest of. Warming up. Berios was terrible. 3 hits, 1 hostage, 2 walks, 4 wins, while he took just 1 out and put 34 pitches. It was not fun at all to see it. He could have had some help. Matt Chapman received a double free kick, but it’s hard to get one out of his glove (this happened to him again later in the game). Tayler Saucedo came in to get the last 2 outs of the first. But then he gave a 2-run homer to Mitch Garver in the second, and we were down 6-0 in the end 2 innings. Trent Thornton took the 3rd and 4th innings and “just” gave up one more run with 2 hits and 2 rides. 7-0 at the end of 4 seasons, Twitter becomes a “I told you it wasn’t that good” part. Jaycee had only 1 hit in 3 appearances. But the fourth was more fun. George Springer started with a walk, Bo Bisset stood out and Vlad’s our first series of the season. Teoscar Hernandez then walked to load up the bases. And we ran into a Lourdes Gurriel and a fly with a Alejandro Kirk bag. I was hoping for more, but it was a start. 7-3. Ross Stripling made a quick 5th inning in just 8 courts. Then he had fun. The Jays 5th, after two outs:
Springer walked again. Bo stood out again. Vlad stood out again (his second RBI in the game. Finally, Teoscar homered (RBIs 1, 2 and 3) and we have a tie game.
Julian Merryweather came out for the 6th. I do not know why they did not go with Stripling for another inning. He got 3 outs in 7 pitches. And we took our first lead at the bottom of the inning. Danny Jansen took a 2-out walk and pulled all the way around the bases in the double in the center of Santiago Espinal. It runs much better than I always think. Unfortunately, Adam Cimber, after a bounce, left a draw at home to Adolis Garcia. But the Jays bats did not give up. Bo started at the end of the 7th, reaching a mistake. Vlad hit hard in the center but caught. Bo was then selected first (in a Rangers challenge). Theoscar, who was supposed to be the “star of the night”, walked with full measurement. The Lourdes Gurriel doubled, and Teoscar fell into the house and was shouted at on the plate, but, after checking, he was safe. The Rangers catcher stood behind the plate and Teoscar put his foot in front of the label. Two outs, a time game, I have to send him, and he just scored. The umpire called him out, but he was sent off. The replay took two today. Great relay, lousy label. The referee was very out of position. Yimi Garcia made an excellent 8th inning. His first game as Jay. Danny Jansen came in at the bottom of the 8th to give us an insurance course. Jordan Romano scored his first save of the season, taking 2 hits (the first two of the match, quite surprising). The non-strikeout was an amazing catch from Lourdes in the left corner of the pitch. Maybe he deserves his Golden Glove nomination this year (although he had a terrific throw on the plate earlier in the game). Bichette, Guerrero and Jansen had 2 hits each. Springer and Hernandez took 2 walks each. Matt Chapman did not play well, 0 to 4, with 3 hits. In addition, he had trouble getting the ball out of his glove twice. He played a great game in third place. Jays of the Day: Teoscar (.437 WPA, plus this sprint at home), Lourdes (0.259), Santiago (0.235), Yimi Garcia (0.096). I give one to Danny (0.079, but this home series in the eighth gave us some space, plus scoring from the first). Suckage: Berrios (-.373) and Cimber (-.177, but got the win, go figure). Jayce wins game number 1. Although 162 is like him, we will enjoy our season. It was great. Tomorrow we start at 3:00 east. Kevin Gausman vs. Dane Dunning. Do not leave the game early, no matter what.
