After every Blue Jays series, this Canadian will sum up his five stars of the set and throw in my two cents (worth .015 US).
Let’s recap Toronto’s abysmal series against the Houston Astros, and it could have been much worse. This would have been a sweep if it had not been for a ninth inning Davis Schneider Home Run. The Jays were outscored 19 to 2, outhit 35 to 9, and just plain outgunned with the starting pitching.
Ronel Blanco, who was making only his eighth career start at the age of 30, threw the first no-hitter of the 2024 season, while his Jays counterpart, Bowden Francis, allowed 7 Earned Runs over 5.1 Innings. Framber Valdez outpitched Jose Berrios, shutting out the Jays in 7.2 Innings before Josh Hader blew it in the 9th, and in the final contest, Christian Javier allowed only one hit in his five innings of work. Hader was the only Houston Pitcher to give up any runs, while conversely, six Jays (including Chris Bassitt, who was rocked in his second straight start) were tagged with Earned Runs,
The Jays now have the worst team ERA (5.34) and WHIP (1.514) in the AL, most of which is attributed to the starters. Another problem is Bo Bichette’s sleepy bat, which has a .390 OPS thus far and has already committed two defensive errors.
The optimist in me, however, is thankful for that stolen win in Game 2, and it is nice to see the Jays 1-0 in one-run games for the year. To put it bluntly, Toronto received a gift from the baseball gods.
Here are my five (barely) stars of the Series:
Jose Berrios, 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 2 SO, 1.50 WHIP: Berrios is one of two players in both series and is lucky to be here. His opponent, Framber Valdez, outpitched him with 7.2 Innings of shutout baseball and would have gained the win had Hader not blown the save, but Berrios did his job and kept Toronto in it. Allowing 6 Hits and 3 Walks over six Innings is not great, but only Jose Altuve’s solo shot changed the scoreboard.
Davis Schneider, 1 R, 1 H, 1 XBH, 1 HR, 2 RBI: .250/.250/1.000/1.250: Schneider collected the only RBIs of the series, a ninth-inning two-run Home Run. He only had four Plate Appearances, but he won them the game. This was an easy decision.
Trevor Richards, 2 G, 1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2 SO, 0.00 WHIP Richards came out of the bullpen in both of Toronto’s blowout losses, pitching two-thirds of an inning in both contests without surrendering a baserunner. He has yet to give up a run in four Games thus far in 2024.
Justin Turner, 0 R, 3 H, 2 XBH, 0 HR, 0 RBI .375/.500/.625/1.125: Along with Berrios, Turner goes two-for-two as one of my five-star selections, and he is the only batter on their roster who is batting over .300, has an OBP over .400 and is Slugging over .500. Nobody else is even close to hitting any of those metrics but early in a season that can change rapidly. Turner’s production in this series was isolated in their 2-1 win, but nobody else accomplished anything offensively in the other two games.
Chad Green, 1 W, 1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 SO, 0.750 WHIP: Green came in on relief in the eighth with runners on second and third and got out of it when Jose Altuve was caught stealing home. When Schneider gave the Blue Jays the lead in the ninth, Green did his job, allowing only an infield hit and gaining the Win for his squad.
Honorable mentions for nobody. It was a chore and a half to come up with the above five.
Up next for Toronto is three games on the road against the New York Yankees for their home opener.
