The Toronto Blue Jays, who entered today one game above .500 and 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East, sent Marcus Stroman to the mound looking for their first series sweep of the season. Standing in their way, however, was San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. Neither starter was sharp, and the Jays had their first scoring opportunity in the top of the first when back-to-back singles by Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista and a walk to Troy Tulowitzki loaded the bases with two out. MadBum struck out the struggling Russell Martin to end the threat, and nothing came of it.
The Giants went out in front in the bottom of the second inning when Gregor Blanco doubled to right field to drive in Brandon Crawford from second base. Crawford, who lead off the inning with a single, had reached second base when Troy Tulowitzki booted a potential double play ball off the bat of Conor Gillaspie for his fifth error of the season. The Jays got one back in the second when Donaldson and Bautista both walked and Donaldson scored on an Edwin Encarnacion ground-out.No runners crossed the plate again until the bottom of the fifth, when Stroman gave up back-to-back singles to Denard Span and Joe Panik, followed by a walk to Matt Duffy to load the bases with none out. Both Span and Panik would come in to score, giving the Giants a 4-1 lead that, frankly, seemed insurmountable given the Jays’ offensive woes in 2016.
The Blue Jays had a golden opportunity to tie the game after Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion both singled and Tulowitzki was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. After a sacrifice fly by Russell Martin, and a pinch-hit single by Justin Smoak to bring the Jays to within one, Ryan Goins (pinch-hitting for Darwin Barney) flied out to centre field to end the inning. In need of some last-chance heroics, the Jays tied the game when Michael Saunders took Santiago Casilla deep in the ninth inning. The two teams would trade opportunities in extra innings until Ryan Tepera served up a four-pitch bases-loaded walk to Buster Posey in the bottom of the thirteenth inning to end the game.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
Trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth, Michael Saunders led off the inning with a solo shot to tie the game, providing the top play of the game by WPA (.363).
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
The Giants nearly walked it off in the bottom of the tenth when Drew Storen gave up a single to Brandon Crawford and hit Jarrett Parker with one out, followed by Gregor Blanco reaching base on Tulowitzki’s second error of the game. But, Storen dug deep to strike out Brandon Belt, who provided the bottom play of the game by WPA (-.175).
Pitchers at the Plate
The joys of interleague baseball and playing by the National League’s rules provided fans with two particularly entertaining moments today- seeing Marcus Stroman with a bat in his hand (he went 0-for-2 but did hit a long fly ball just short of the warning track), and R.A. Dickey pinch-hitting late in the game (though he failed to get a bunt down).
Troy Tulowitzki
Though his offensive struggles have been front and centre in the “what’s wrong with the offense?” narrative, Troy Tulowitzki’s atypical shaky defense added another cause for concern regarding the all-star shortstop. With two errors on the day, Tulo now has six errors in his last fourteen games. Multiple theories abound – perhaps his eyesight is failing, or his offensive woes have him so wrapped up in his own head that it’s now impacting his fielding abilities. Whatever the cause, one hopes he figures it out very soon.
Up Next
After a much-needed off-day tomorrow, the Blue Jays will head to Arlington to take on the Texas Rangers, whom they got the best of at home during the first week of May when the Jays took three of four games in the series. The Rangers, who are 6-5 in their last eleven games, gave their lineup a bit of a different look on Tuesday when they bumped the struggling Prince Fielder to the five-spot. The Rangers are the one team against whom the Jays played a laugher when they put up twelve runs two weeks ago, so here’s hoping the Jays’ bats can get it going once again.
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