MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Detroit Tigers

Recap: Tigers 11, Blue Jays 0; Jays Let Down Their Defensive Guard

I’m glad that game is over. There was nothing that the Blue Jays did well from start to finish. The pitching was abysmal. The offense was non-existent. The defense was uncharacteristically atrocious. Kevin Pillar made an ugly mistake in the field when Nick Castellanos hit a liner right at him. Instead of taking his first step back, he made a move forward, which was ultimately his death sentence on the play. Castellanos resided on third base when all was said and done. Pillar wasn’t done there. Later in the game, he went down to pick up a ball rolling toward him and he let it go between the wickets. If Pillar is going to be making errors in the field, it might as well all be in one game and especially a game where everything went wrong.

Top Play of the Game by WPA

In the second inning, with one out, and two on, J.A. Happ threw a inside cut fastball to James McCann. He went down and ripped the cover off the baseball, launching a line-drive homer to left field. From there the game was essentially over. It was 4-0 by the end of the second inning and the Tigers didn’t look back. McCann improved his team’s odds to win the game by 0.173 WPA.

Bottom Play of the Game by WPA

The worst play of the game occurred in the only inning the Jays were still in the ball game, the first. Bautista led the ballgame off with a walk, and Donaldson subsequently struck out with an ugly hack. Edwin Encarnacion came up to the dish and buried the ball into the ground resulting in an inning-ending double play and decreasing the Jays’ chance of winning the game by -0.050 WPA.

Darwin Barney Is The Lone Bright Spot

In a game devoid of anything particularly interesting for Jays fans, Darwin Barney continued to impress with his bat. Barney was 2-3 and accounted for two of the three Jays hits on the evening. That is right, the number nine hitter accumulated the majority of the offense for the Jays on Monday evening. His average for the season is .337. I am fairly confident to say that he has been the biggest offensive surprise on the Jays thus far into the season.

Trend to Watch

Hopefully the entire Jays team has a short memory after this game. Forget about it and move on. These games will happen over the course of the season but one would have hoped that it wouldn’t have occurred directly after the Jays had won five series in a row and were playing their best baseball of the season. Of course, playing poorly for one game doesn’t mean the end of the Jays resurgence, but it doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Up Next

The Jays are back at it tomorrow at Comerica Park. The game will begin at 7:10 pm with Aaron Sanchez (5-1, 2.99 ERA) on the mound for the Blue Birds and former-Jay Matt Boyd (0-1, 3.94 ERA) pitching for the Tigers. If the Jays want to extend their streak to six straight series wins, they will need to close out the next two against Detroit in style, something they are definitely capable of doing.

Lead Photo: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

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