After yesterday’s shellacking, the Jays were probably more optimistic about today’s game, with presumptive ace Marcus Stroman taking the hill. They were also facing Chris Archer, who the Jays have usually had some success against. But they weren’t able to come through tonight, losing to the Rays by a score of 12-2. Stroman was scuffling all night, allowing an unfortunate mix of seeing-eye singles and rockets into the gap. He took the loss, allowing seven runs on thirteen hits over five-and-two-thirds innings, walking two and striking out only two Rays hitters. Stroman didn’t have a single clean inning, and the Rays seemed comfortable against him all night.
Archer wasn’t a lot better this time than he was his first time against the Jays, struggling with his location, walking four batters in his six innings. But he, unlike Stroman, limited the damage from his mistakes, with the only runs he allowed being a first inning home-run to Jose Bautista, that accounted for all of the offense for the Jays on the evening. The Jays did improve mildly in one other aspect: they only struck out seven times against him in this game. Even with that half-hearted silver lining, the offense continued to be inadequate, which cost the Jays on another night their starter struggled.
We did get to see new Blue Jay Jimmy Paredes, who pinch-hit for Bautista in the eighth inning. He hit a scorching line drive that ricocheted off Rays pitcher Ryan Webb (who seemed unharmed, thankfully), though was quickly erased when Edwin Encarnacion grounded into a double play.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
The Rays struck early, getting a run in the first inning to lead 1-0. The Jays got it back quickly, as Jose Bautista came up in the bottom of the inning with a runner on base. He hit a home run to straightaway center field, putting the Jays up 2-1. Going from trailing to leading increased the Jays chances to win by 18.1 percentage points. The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Jays promptly gave it back the very next inning.
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
Trailing 5-2 in the third inning, Bautista was on base for Justin Smoak with one out. The Rays’ shift had him played to perfection, however, as Smoak grounded into a routine double play, quashing the Jays’ chance to get some of that lead back. This lowered their chance to win by 5.1 percentage points, and the Jays didn’t threaten often after that point.
Rays Bats Stay Hot
After getting 17 hits last night, the Rays liked it so much they did it again, notching 17 hits for the second game in a row. It wasn’t one particular player that had Stroman’s number on this evening, as eight of the nine Rays starters got hits off him, and five of them had two hits. The team effort meant that the Rays had several crooked innings, scoring three in the second and two in the fifth, and kept him pitching out of the stretch and with runners on base. The Jays bullpen didn’t provide much relief from the onslaught, though Pat Venditte was victimized by some uncharacteristically sloppy defense from Josh Donaldson in the seventh, which put the game well out of reach.
Stroman’s Strikeouts
Marcus Stroman was undefeated coming into this game tonight. But if there was one potential area of complaint, it was that he wasn’t striking out a lot of batters, getting only 6.6 Ks per 9 innings, a low number for a starter with stuff like his. He had been using his great stuff to get a lot of ground ball outs- he had a 62.3% ground ball rate coming into the game, the highest in the majors (as our series preview discussed). After a night like this, when the Rays had a few hits that sneaked through the infield, we’ll have to see if Stroman adjusts his strategy for his next start.
Up Next
The third game of the series is tomorrow at 7:07 PM ET. The Blue Jays send knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (2-4, 4.31 ERA) to the hill, and the Rays counter with Jake Odorizzi (0-2, 3.83). Dickey has had a good month so far, and is coming off his best start of the season, shutting out the Rangers over eight innings, allowing only three hits and striking out six. He faced the Rays earlier this season, and picked up a 5-3 win.
Odorizzi’s last outing was forgettable, allowing seven hits and five runs over just four innings, and giving up three home runs. Odorizzi also faced the Jays in the opening series of the year, picking up a 3-2 win, getting ten strikeouts over five-and-two-thirds innings of work.
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