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).
One of her former bosses told my wife not to accept mediocrity. This was in relation to her staff. I wonder if I am accepting that with the Toronto Blue Jays, as I was so disappointed when they could not make it to .500 after their series in Milwaukee. It didn’t happen, but as this Canadian always says, “The beer can is half-full,” and I will be celebrating an even record for my Bluebirds. I have to wait a bit.
Or maybe a lot.
Toronto dropped the series, losing the opening and closing game of the interleague series and the Jays remain in that land of limbo where they remain in baseball purgatory where we can’t determine whether they are cellar dwellers or Wild Card contenders.
Baseball purgatory sucks.
Now, on to the series:
Milwaukee’s opening series starter, Colin Rea, pitched seven innings, the first time he had done so in seven years. Allowing only an Alejandro Kirk solo home run, he easily bested Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios, who lasted 5.2 innings and gave up all three runs, including two solo shots (Jackson Chourio and Willy Adames). There was a one-in-a-million occurrence in the game when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lost control of his bat while fouling off a pitch. His lumber flew high into the protective netting above Toronto’s dugout, and it took two innings and a collective effort to retrieve Vladdy’s bat. It was the only win of the game for the boys in blue, who lost 3-1.
The Jays won Tuesday’s contest, 3-0, from a combined shutout by five pitchers. Toronto starter Yusei Kikuchi got his fourth win (4-5), though he allowed three hits and four walks, but nobody crossed home. Nate Pearson, Chad Green, and Trevor Richards added holds, and Yimi Garcia secured his fifth save in 1.1 innings of work. Offensively, the Jays chased Brewers starter Carlos Rodriguez in the fourth, tagging him with seven hits and two runs (George Springer single in the second and Spencer Horwitz single in the fourth). Danny Jansen doubled home the insurance run in the ninth.
The series closer was another punch in the gut for the Jays. Chris Bassitt threw five shutout innings, though they had to escape bases-loaded jams in the first and third. He left the game with a 1-0 lead, as Davis Schneider had a solo shot off Tobias Myers in the first. Myers never allowed another run in six frames and won when the Brewers took the lead in their half of the sixth. Reliever Zach Pop got his first two batters out but walked Blake Perkins and gave up a single to Brice Turang, giving Milwaukee runners on the corners. Catcher Alejandro Kirk’s throw to second on Turang’s successful steal attempt got away from Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which allowed Perkins to score. William Contreas singled in Turang, which brought a pitching change with Tim Mayza taking the hill. He fared even worse, surrendering an RBI single to former MVP Christian Yelich and a two-run shot to Willy Adames.
Milwaukee kept that 5-1 lead into the ninth, where the Jays fought back with RBI singles from Spencer Horwitz and Bo Bichette. An Alejandro Kirk sacrifice fly was brought within one, but Guerrero, who was hit an off-day pinch hit, was retired after a long fly out to the deep center.
Damn, that would have been a sweet comeback!
Here are my five Blue Jays stars of the series:
Spencer Horwitz, 1 R, 6 H, 1 XBH, 0 HR, 2 RBI .500/.538/.583/1.122: Horwitz was brought in to hit, which is what he has provided. All of his games in this series were multi-hit, and in the small sample size of 18 at-bats, he has an OPS+ of 169.
Yusei Kikuchi, 1 W, 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 SO, 1.400 WHIP: This was not Kikuchi’s best start of the season, and he has often been the victim of wasted quality starts, but he gets the win here with a game score of 62.
Yimi Garcia, 1 SV, 1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 SO, 0.000 WHIP: Garcia had another good outing, and may I be one of many to propose that he keeps the closer’s role even when Jordan Romano returns?
Chris Bassitt, 1 G, 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 SO, 1.800 WHIP: Bassitt did his job, and while he struggled, he left his game with the lead.
Bo Bichette, 0 R, 3 H, 0 XBH, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .273/.273/.273/.545: Hmmm. I will admit this is mostly hope on my part, and a reach, but he did go two-for-two in the series with runners in scoring position.
Honourable mentions for nobody.
Next, the Jays return home to face the Cleveland Guardians for three games
Until then, touch them all!
