Red Sox 2 Blue Jays 7
It’s very nice to see a good initial launch performance. It seems like a long time has passed.
Kevin Gausman threw seven white innings, allowing just 4 hits (3 singles and a ‘double’ that would have been an out but hit the second base bag and deflected from), 2 balls and 10 strikeouts. He looked a lot more like the early-season Gausman than the guy we’ve seen in recent starts.
We needed a headline to get into a game. Thanks, Kevin.
And we have a lot of home runs. Three of them.
We have marked:
- One in the first: George Springer started us off with a walk and Bo Bichette doubled him home. I expected more, but Vlad got out (a rare in poor baptism), Alejandro Kirk made a 1 short, but Bichette wandered too far first and was eliminated after a brief summary. If we hadn’t scored so many runs, we would have been cursing that play. And Teoscar Hernandez put a point.
- Three in the third: Springer homered, Bo made a single and Vlad homered. The next two batters got one, Kirk hit by pitch and Hernandez made a single, but that was the end of the fun.
- Three in the fifth: Kirk doubled, Teoscar made a single and Matt Chapman got his 11th home run of the season.
We had 10 hits, 3 homers and 3 doubles. There were also two successful hitters, but both were on fairly soft fields.
All the starters have had a hit, except Santiago Espinal, who has not looked very good on the plate, but everyone has some parts of the season. He now has 0 in his last 16. Bo and Teoscar had 2 hits each.
David Phelps got 3 flyouts in the eighth. Shaun Anderson got his first playing time for the Blue Jays in the ninth. It didn’t go well, 2 singles, a fly bag, another single, a popup. The next batter hit one that hit Anderson and bounced away from him. His first throw was on the ground and Vlad was unable to catch him. A fly-out (in a full count, Anderson was robbed in one or two calls to the bat).
Jays of the Day: Gausman (.239 WPA), Springer (.125) and Bichette (.121).
The Red Sox went with starter Connor Seabold much longer than I would have expected (he gave up 7 runs in 4.2 innings. I guess they didn’t want to use the bullpen.
A great way to start the series with the Red Sox.