That wasn’t much fun. For the second time in a row, Jose Berríos did not have one. The attack, which has actually been correct during the recent slide, didn’t look great either, it failed to score after the first entry. It was a dark afternoon everywhere.
The Jays have now lost three straight and return to Toronto to spend seven days and eight home games against the Red Sox and Rays, which seems likely to be a turning point in the season, one way or another. .
George Springer, back after a few days off with a wrist injury, started with a simple line to the left. Bo Bichette faced a questionable triple, but Vladimir Guerrero jr. made a walk to put the table of Alexander Kirk, who quickly cleared it with a high shot over the wall in the dead center, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead. From there, Teoscar Hernández came out on the ground, Santiago Espinal came in with a single ball on the ground and Chapman hit a fly in the middle that just didn’t have the distance and landed with Jonathan Davis ’glove for the third out. Jose Berríos struggled a little early, throwing an initial walk to Christian Yelich and, after lifting Wily Adames on free-kick, left a quick ball over the heart of the plate that Rowdy Tellez took to the center to score. the 3-2. He got Andrew McCutchen to touch the ground and then gave a single with a hard ball to Luis Urías. Omar Narváez scored a double in the center that Urias scored from the first and tied the game, but inexplicably tried to make it third in the play and was sent off 20 feet to finish the entry.
At the head of the second, Lourdes Gurriel jr. appeared short. Cavan Biggio made a walk, but Springer hit in a double play. Berríos’ struggles worsened in the lower half of the inning. Tyrone Taylor hit a soft liner in the center left and made it a double, then Jace Peterson put in a perfect touch for a single to take Taylor to third. Jonathan Davis took him home with a single ball on the ground in the hole that Espinal was able to reach, but not in time to make a throw anywhere. The Jays finally got an out with a round from Yelich in the first, but conceded another run to the play, Adames made a single on the next throw to take Davis home, and then a second home run from Tellez made the 8-3. Luckily, McCutchen and Uriah’s outs ended here, but for the second day in a row the Blue Jays found themselves in a hole five runs ahead.
The attack could not respond to the third. Bo and Vlad put on throws that neither of them were happy with (although they seemed to be on the edge on TV) and Kirk gave up. Berríos seemed to briefly find his balance at this point, getting a groundout from Narváez and hitting Taylor for his only K of the afternoon, but he hit Peterson and walked Davis, forcing Montoyo to throw him for Matt Gage. . Gage walked to Yelich, but got Adames out to finish the entry without scoring a run.
The Jays’ attack remained latent in the fourth. Espinal made a single to the right, after Hernandez came out on the ground to advance, but Chapman appeared and Gurriel hit a one-to-third jump, where Peterson was able to put it up and get Espinal in the second. Santiago seemed to be holding their breath, but in the end they managed to get away with it. Gage stayed in the game and looked strong, hit Tellez and received a pop up and a ground out from McCutchen and Uriah, respectively.
The Brewers went to their bullpen on the fifth and brought in Jandel Gustave. He handled the Jays with ease, getting soft flies from Biggio and Springer and a land off Bichette. The Jays turned to David Phelps to manage the end of the inning. He reached Narváez with an initial volley ball, but then placed a Peterson ground between the strikeouts of Taylor and Davis to prevent the Brewers from rising.
Gustave stayed to start the sixth for Milwaukee. Guerrero absolutely broke a low liner at 113 miles per hour beyond the mound for an initial single. Kirk continued with a single of his own line. Hernandez hit the third hard bass in a row, but just to Peterson for the first outing. Then, Espinal made a double play to finish what looked like a pretty promising little rally. Tim Mayza took over from Phelps in the home half. Yelich came in with an oscillating touch to advance, and Adames made a double to the right to put the runners in second and third with no out. Mayza tightened up a 3-2 throw to walk Tellez and load the bases. McCutchen suddenly landed on Chapman, who couldn’t handle it at all and was unable to get an out, allowing a goal. Urías hit a deep sack shot to make it 10-3 before Narváez locked in a double play and stopped the bleeding.
Trevor Gott took the reins in the seventh. Chapman appeared to have walked when the first-base referee ruled on appeal that he had not made a 3-2 throw, but Ted Barrett behind the plate changed his mind and decided it had been a free kick. for the pose. In the replay, it didn’t look like the ball was ever that close to his bat. The Jays haven’t played well today, but they haven’t been lucky either. Gurriel put in a short and Biggio put in the seventh stretch. Jeremy Beasley entered Toronto as a cleaning service. He got a fly out from Taylor, put Peterson swinging and a ground out from Davis finished the inning.
Facing Brent Suter in the eighth, the Jays seemed ready to head to the airport. Guerrero made his second walk of the afternoon, but Springer flew out and Bichette and Kirk fell. Beasley came out again to try to wrap it up in the bottom half of the inning. Yelich came out of the line to open the scoring, Adames hit a simple ground ball in the middle, Tellez nailed one to the right to Springer for the second out, and McCutchen came out to the left for the third.
Trevor Kelley faced little resistance to wrap things up for Milwaukee. Hernandez put and Espinal and Zimmer (Chapman’s pinch) flew out to end the match.
Jay of the Day: Kirk (0.240)
Suckage: Berrios (-0.583, one of the worst individual WPA I’ve ever seen)
The Jays head home for a series against the Red Sox starting tomorrow night at 7:07 ET. Kevin Gausman will face Toronto, facing minor league call-up Connor Seabold for Boston.