Jays Lose To Twins

Blue Jays 3 Twins 4

Ernie Clement, the game's second batter, homered, and it seemed, for the longest time, that the scoring would end there.

We didn’t see any more scoring until the seventh.

Yariel Rodriguez wasn’t great, and Buck complained about him full-time but didn’t allow a run. And then he was pulled after three. I guess they are limiting the stress on his arm, with him starting after being a reliever in Japan. He gave up three hits and two walks but got the outs when needed. He had three strikeouts.

Ryan Yarbourgh went in for the fourth, going 2.1, with only a hit batter getting on base against him. He only threw 26 pitches. I would have liked him to pitch deeper into the game. I know there are a ton of relievers in the pen, but that doesn’t mean we should use them all. Stick with the effective guy.

Zach Pop got the last two outs of the sixth. He gave up a walk to start the seventh, and it was Brendon Little’s turn on the pitcher carousel. He got a strikeout. And then a ground ball to third. Luis De Los Santos should have gone to first, but he rushed to get the out at second and threw high. Addison Barger’s throw back to third (another throw that shouldn’t have been made) went past third but didn’t cost us. Another grounder to third scored the tying run. Tommy Nance came in to get the third out.

The Jays did little offensively between the second and eighth innings.

In the eighth Nathan Lukes started us off with a walk. Clement followed with a single. Spencer Horwitz lined one to center, giving us runners on the corners. Barger walked to load the bases. And Leo Jimenez was hit by pitch, to give us a run. A Joey Loperfido ground ball scored another.

So we were up 3-1

With the lead again, John Scheider went with Chad Green in the eighth. Green has been our closer, but it was him or Genesis Cabrera, and a few right-handed hitters were coming up.

I don’t think it was the wrong move, but it didn’t work. Green just didn’t have it. He gave up back-to-back one-out singles. Then Royce Lewis homered. 4-3 Twins.

Needing a run in the bottom of the ninth, Brian Serven was hit by a pitch with one out. Then Nathan Lukes topped one to the pitch, Jhoan Duran, took his time going to first. Called out, it was close. And a challenge didn’t change it. If it were called safe, a challenge wouldn’t have changed it either. It was that close. Ernie Clement hit a fly to medium right to end the game.

Vlad Guerrero, George Springer, and Alejandro Kirk sat out. If we were in the pennant, I’m sure at least one of them would have pinch hit, but they didn’t. Kirk has a sore hand. I’m unsure if the other two are nursing injuries, but they decided not to use them.

We only had three hits on the day. Clement had two of them. Nathan Lukes had three of our five walks.

Leo Jimenez made the play of the game:

We thought he might have been hurt. Usually, players can jump onto the screen, and it will hold their weight. This time, it didn’t.

It was one o those games where both teams went through a number of relievers, and both teams found the one that didn’t have it today.

Jays of the Day: Yarbrough (.180 WPA), Rodriguez (.164), Clement (.155) and Jimenez (.102, plus the defensive play).

Other Award: Green (-.679), De Los Santos (-.142, plus the error), and Horwitz (-.114).

The good news is it makes it a little harder for the Red Sox to catch the Twins. The Sox are 4.5 games behind the Twins and Royals for the final wild-card spot.

Tomorrow is an off-day, and the Phillies are coming to town for two games.