Rays 1 Blue Jays 4
At the top, we only recognize how great Matt Chapman is with the glove. With almost anyone else at third base, this would have been a different game. In the sixth inning, it looked like Yusei Kikuchi was starting to lose him. He gave up consecutive singles to start entry. Then there was a ball bouncing at the third baseline, which Chapman threw, touched third and made an excellent throw to the first for the double play. The next hitter hit the grounder almost exactly, a little harder (103.1 MPH) than Chapman grabbed (more) behind the bag and again made a great throw to the first, getting the third out. In the seventh, he made a great catch in an emerging shot behind the third.
Kukichi had a fantastic start. In six innings, he gave up a solo homer, the two singles mentioned above and another single, just a walk with eight punches. He was at the forefront throughout the process. Maybe I had one more entry on it, but I was in favor of taking it out while things were going well. Without Chapman, his last entry would not have been great.
In attack, two large swings did all the damage. Teoscar Hernandez crushed a no doubt in the second inning, a two-run shot, 419 feet. And Santiago Espinal had his own two-run homer in the seventh. There is no doubt, just above the left field wall, at the Jays bullpen, caught by David Phelps.
We only had 9 hits a day. Teoscar (3) and Espinal (2) had 5 of the 9 hits.
Opening Matt Wisler threw first without a goal. After that, Ryan Yarbourgh threw most of the game, yielding 8 hits, 4 runs and 1 walk without getting to the point, in 5.1 innings. I thought Kevin Cash left him a little too long, but both teams have a lot of baseball ahead of them this weekend.
Vlad, Chapman and Moreno had 0 fors.
From the pen:
- Trent Thornton gave up a shot and had a point in the seventh
- Phelps gave up a walk and got a point in the eighth.
- Cimber achieved salvation (launching his third consecutive game). His fourth of the season. He finished it with a point.
Jays of the Day: Kikuchi (.258 WPA), Teoscar (.189) and Espinal (.171). I make an honorable mention to Chapman, despite his -.076 WPA, for his glove.
No one had Suckage’s number. Bo (-.087), Moreno (.080, but deserves points to help Kukichi navigate the game) and Vlad (-.070) came close.
Tomorrow we have a game for Canada Day, at 3:00 p.m. Jose Berrios 5-4, 5.86 ERA, hopes to recover from a terrible start. Corey Kluber (3-4, 3.45) is the starter of the Rays.