Blue Jays 4 Angels 3
My first Apple TV + game was good and bad. I liked the cleanliness of the video. I liked the noise of the field.
I hated the comment. They didn’t seem to know anything about the Blue Jays. He talked about Kirk’s speed (not low speed), talking about Star Wars, too. The bandwagon talked too much, to my liking.
And they missed the action in the field. The Jays’ first run scored while showing some set pieces. And they talked to people dressed in Star Wars clothes as the game went on, instead of showing the play.
The game?
A good game.
Alek Manoah was good, maybe as big as he has been all season, but good. He gave up a couple of home runs alone (Jared Walsh and Tyler Wade took him deep). And he was hurt by a poor defense. Raimel Tapai had a single pass through him, giving the runner an extra base and setting up the Angels ’first run.
Manoah was 6, allowed 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 wins, 0 walks and 9 strikeouts.
He was also helped by a good play by Bo Bichette. In the fifth inning, with Mike Trout in the third, Walsh put one on Bo. Bo threw it home and Trout was barely out. Unsuccessful. I was surprised that they canceled the call in such a tight play.
Offensively? Well, we did enough. Hardly, but enough.
We had 11 hits, 3 extra bases (all doubles). We have marked:
- 1st in the second: Bo started the entry with a double as a rule in the corner of the right field. Teoscar Hernández singled to a single on the field. And Bo scored with the double play of Alexander Kirks. It’s not that we have to see it or anything.
- 1st to 5th: This time Kirk started with a double. Tapia singled it to third. And Lourdes doubled home to Kirk (doubling home to Kirk from the third is as good a description of Kirk’s speed as you’ll ever get). Something miraculous happened that entry. We had two hits with RISP. That’s where the fun ended. With runners in second and third. Cavan (not Kevin as the announcer put it) lined up (bad luck for Cavan, hit well), George Springer came out and Santiago Espinal put up.
- 1st to seventh: Danny Jansen (pinch), had a single from an out. Bradley Zimmer pinch-heart (a good play). Gurriel singled to left, Zimmer to second. Matt Chapman (also pinch) got a single inside the box at second base and Zimmer came home from second. It has an incredible speed. Unfortunately, Springer got out and Espinal hit a soft fly out.
- 1st to 9th: Kirk had a simple infield (prompting the commenter to tell us the speed is never low). Zimmer put on a good sack touch (but with all that speed at first, it didn’t have to be that good). And Gurriel made a single to the right, a ball that bounced in front of right fielder Juan Lagares and Kirk scored. Again, that would be all we would get. Chapman put it out and Springer finished.
Lourdes had 3 hits (hopefully he is out of his fall?). Kirk had 2 hits. All the others had 1 hit, except for the 3 boys at the head of the order. Springer, Espinal (he made a very nice play in third base), and Guerrero went 0 for 11, with 3 strikeouts and 2 balls.
Our bullpen has done a great job.
- Yimi Garcia had a clean slate.
- Trevor Richards’ net entry had 2 strikeouts. Get your second win.
- Jordan Romano got his 15th stop. He put the ball on the wing in the ninth, and got the pinch hitter Shohei Ohtani was the last start of the game. I thought it was good that Angels fans were chanting MVPs for Romano during the baptism.
Jays of the Day: Gurriel (.573 WPA), Chapman (.172), Romano (.187), Chapman (.172) and Richards (.102). Tapia approached (.090) but this error cost him a JoD.
Suckage: The top of the order, Springer (-.259), Spinal (-.251) and Vlad (-.159). Manoah also had the number (-.119) but I don’t think it’s fair.
Tomorrow night the Jays will get their fourth straight win. Yusei Kikuchi (2-1, 3.47) against Michael Lorenzen (5-2, 3.05). It is a 10:00 east departure.
It should be noted that Lourdes was microphoneed, but all we got was a double. I was expecting more.