The Blue Jays had their first trip to a National League park this season on Monday night and came away victorious, beating the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Jake Peavy, who had scuffled to start the season, was not especially sharp in this outing either, laboring through five innings, allowing five hits and five walks. The Jays, however, were unable to make him pay too much, only scoring three runs and stranding seven while the Giants starter was on the hill.
Aaron Sanchez was fine, going seven innings, allowing only one run and three hits, and striking out five. Sanchez did struggle at times with his control, walking five hitters, which is something we haven’t seen as much of so far this season. But the Giants, lacking regular catcher Buster Posey, also struggled with runners in scoring position, getting only three hits, and managing to leave eight runners on base. Gavin Floyd pitched a clean eighth, and Roberto Osuna locked it down for his seventh save of the season.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
With one out in the third inning, Peavy walked Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion strode to the plate. He blasted a home run to left field, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead. These two runs proved to be the difference in the game, and at the time increased their chances to win by 18.4 percentage points.
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
In the seventh inning, Sanchez was clearly running out of gas, allowing a single and a walk. With two runners on base, pitching coach Pete Walker came to the mound to buy time for the bullpen, and Joe Panik was clearly going to be Sanchez’s last batter. The Jays’ hurler managed to get the Giants’ second baseman out, getting him to ground to third base. Ending the inning decreased the Giants’ chances to win by 6.8 percentage points.
Stranding Runners
The offense had a bad day with runners in scoring position, leaving eight men on base. Twice they stranded the bases loaded on Giants starter Jake Peavy, in the first and fifth inning, only scoring a single run in the first. Thankfully for the Jays, Edwin Encarnacion contributed in the traditional Jays’ way, smashing that home run to left in the third inning.
Sanchez Gets to Seven
Sanchez’s progression into an excellent starter has been well covered by this point, and his outing tonight marked the third straight outing (and fifth of seven starts) that he threw at least seven innings. For a Jays rotation that lost Mark Buehrle and David Price, to have Sanchez (and other starters) throw deep into games – and throw well – has been an excellent development, and kept their team afloat while the offense continues to find itself.
Up Next
Another late game for the east coasters tomorrow, with a 10:15 ET start time. J.A Happ (4-0, 2.50 ERA) takes the hill for the Jays, with Matt Cain (0-4, 7.84) going for the Giants. Happ has been excellent in his six starts so far this year, having gone six innings in each of them, and having allowed more than two runs only twice. Cain has struggled so far in 2016, having allowed six runs in three of his six starts, and throwing fewer than five innings in three as well.
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