It is getting to the point where Yusei Kikuchi needs to be removed from the rotation. He has arrived today with an effectiveness of 7.94 in his last six starts, and somehow worsened that number even though not all of his races have been won this afternoon. I don’t know if it’s a psychological thing or just an inability to command your ball fast, but something is very broken.
On a lighter note, the offense wasn’t terrible considering they faced Corbin Burnes, who has been the best baseball starter by a fair margin for the past three seasons, and Max Castillo had a second appearance very promising in her career in the cleaning service. . Still, it’s hard to look for moral victories when the team is in a 3-6 skid and barely clings to the first wildcard (waiting for the result of the Red Sox game, as I write, they lose 2 -0 against the Guardians a year). the sixth).
Corbin Burnes started out looking as impressive as his 2.31 effectiveness, eliminating the first two batters he faced and getting Vladimir Guerrero jr. on the ground. Unfortunately, in the lower half of the inning, Kikuchi trembled even more than you would expect from his 4.94. After a defeat by Christian Yelich, he entered a twelve-throw battle with Willy Adames who eventually lost by issuing a walk. His first throw at Andrew McCutchen was so wild that he seemed to hit McCutchen in the back, but he actually came out of the barrel of his bat behind him. He got McCutchen to climb, but then surrendered two singles on his back to Luis Urías and Tyrone Taylor, taking Adames home to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. He then hit Mike Brosseau in the back to load the bases. The damage stopped here, when Víctor Caratini excelled in a swing to end the inning, but it was not an inspiring start to confidence and he needed 40 shots to pass.
The Jays at least made some contact in the second. Alejandro Kirk knocked home the 0 – 1 goal just outside the reach of the goalkeeper. Raimel Tapia hit the ball hard to the feet of Yelich. The defense took charge of the tremors in the local half of the entrance, with Bo Bichette making a bad throw on a Keston Hiura throw that grabbed the lip of the turf and fired under Vlad’s glove, allowing Hiura came second. Kikuchi bounced back briefly, hitting Jonathan Davis watching and Yelich swinging, but Hiura came in to score with a single from Adams line drive and then McCutchen crashed a home run over the wall of the left field to move the lead. Brewers to four. Urías scored a single in the left center before Kikuchin finally eliminated Taylor to finish the entry. This time it only cost him 27 pitches to get past the entrance.
Matt Chapman at least got the Jays at base in the third with a strong impact liner in the center for a single. Lourdes Gurriel jr. he received a blow to the forearm. He seemed to be in a lot of pain and stayed down for a while, but he was finally able to grab his base and stay in the game. However, they were unable to do anything with the base runners. Burnes put a Biggio pop-up between Moreno and Bichette Ks to get out of the jam. Milwaukee took the lead with a solo shot from Brosseau to lead his half of the inning, and Montoyo was finally forced to throw the rope. Trent Thornton was introduced and got a ground out from Caratini while putting out Davis and Yelich, allowing only one ball of ground to Hiura.
Burnes continued to roll at the top of the fourth, got an emerging Warrior and hit Hernandez and Tapia, with Kirk taking a walk to become the only baserunner at the entrance. Thornton equalized him pitch by pitch in his half, walking to Uriah, but finishing off Adams and receiving a flyout from McCutchen and a pop out from Taylor.
Chapman, who was the first Jay to reach the third, was the first to score in the fifth, leading with a big boost over the left center wall. Gurriel followed with a ball hit in the same spot but about 50 feet shorter, which fell for a double. He then moved on to third position with a Moreno fly down the right field line and scored with a Biggo roll in the first to make it 5-2. Bichette came out on the ground to stop the rally there, but at least the Jays climbed the board. Max Castillo grabbed the reins at the end of the inning and looked strong, sitting at 95 with his fast ball and hitting Hiura and Davis while only conceding a walk to Caratini.
Burnes reaffirmed himself in the sixth, giving way to Kirk for the second time, but finishing off Guerrero and putting Hernandez on the ground in a double play. Castillo also had firm control, hit Yelich and Uriah and got a Adams pitch and only gave McCutchen a walk.
The Jays went quiet on the seventh, with Tapia out, Chapman out and Gurriel putting out. Castilo came out again for a third inning job and stayed strong, hitting Taylor and Caratini for a Brosseau ground out.
The attack was finally able to chase Burnes out of the game with two outs in the eight. After getting Moreno to line up and hit Biggio, he yielded a solo shot to the dead center to Bichette that led the Jays to two, and then a single inside the field to Guerrero. Three runs with five hits and two passes against nine strikeouts above 7.2 is not a great offensive demonstration, but against a pitcher as good as Burnes is almost all you are likely to get. Milwaukee headed to Devin Willimans, who was able to hit Kirk to keep the Jays closer. Castillo in the eighth for the Jays and finished a great second outing of his career with another Hiura point. He conceded a hit, on a Yelich ground ball, but overall it was a great day of work, scoring seven against once and two passes over four. He got the most hits with his 94-96 mph fast ball, but was also able to make the attacks swing or watch with his shift and slider.
Josh Hader came in to block the Brewers’ stop. After the strikes of Hernandez and Espinal, the Jays did manage to put it to one. Chapman scored a double in the gap in the center left, and Gurriel took him home with a soft liner just above the inside of the field on the right. However, Hader managed to get Moreno to cut him to the first for the final exit.
Jays of the Day: No one had the number, but I give one to Chapman (0.080), because it’s not his fault that the 3-4 with a home run and a double wasn’t enough to move the needle, and Castillo. (0; 068), because it was great even if it was the duty to clean.
Suckage: Kikuchi (-0,294) is becoming an absolute black hole. Hernandez (-0.125) also had the number.
The series ends tomorrow at 2:10 p.m. ET. Jose Berrios, who seemed to have found his way before exploding last time in Chicago, will look to bounce back against Chi Chi Gonzalez and the Jays will look for their first win in a row from Detroit.