Two of baseball’s promising young starters were on display in the series opener at US Cellular Field tonight in Chicago. Aaron Sanchez turned in a strong start once again, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in six innings. Despite allowing 9 men to reach base, Sanchez was not hit hard and continued to induce ground balls (9 ground outs) at an elite level. Sanchez’s 23-year old counterpart, Carlos Rodon, struck out 8 Blue Jays and scattered 6 hits and 2 runs over 5.2 innings of work. A Josh Donaldson error in the bottom of the 7th inning led to a Todd Frazier RBI single that would be the difference in the game. Despite a 9th inning rally that saw the Blue Jays load the bases with one out, David Robertson was able to nail down the game for the White Sox, striking out Edwin Encarnacion and getting Michael Saunders to pop out.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
Todd Frazier’s 7th inning RBI single off Jesse Chavez was the difference in the game and the highest value play by WPA, increasing the White Sox chances of winning the game by 19.6 percentage points.
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
The lowest play of the game by WPA occurred in the bottom of the 9th inning when David Robertson snuffed out the Blue Jays rally by getting Michael Saunders to pop out to shortstop Tim Anderson. The Jays had loaded the bases on a Darwin Barney walk, Ezekiel Carrera single and Josh Donaldson infield hit when Robertson was able to retire the meat of the Jays order – striking out Encarnacion before inducing the infield fly off the bat of Saunders. The play reduced Toronto’s chances of winning the game by 23.1 percentage points.
Sanchez Hits A Milestone
After throwing 6 innings tonight, Aaron Sanchez surpassed his 2015 regular season workload of 92.1 innings pitched. While we’ve continued to hear Blue Jays’ management stay on message that Sanchez will be moved to the bullpen at some point in the future (when is not clear), he’s making many people who follow the team dream on ways to keep him in the rotation. The longer we see Sanchez take the hill and pitch like one of the top starters in the American League (where he ranks 14th in starter ERA), the harder it is to swallow that Sanchez won’t be taking the ball in the first inning down the stretch and potentially into the playoffs. Six man rotation? Month long All-Star break? There’s got to be a way to keep Sanchy out there.
Ryan Goins: Outfielder
Tonight’s game saw infielder turned “super utility” player, Ryan Goins, playing left-field after pinch hitting for Junior Lake. While many assumed that Goins would be sent to the minor leagues when Devon Travis returned from injury, Goins has remained with the big club, and taking on defensive assignments in the outfield. With Michael Saunders playing at DH, Goins remained in the outfield for the rest of the game. Goins made a strong throw to third base after Tim Anderson tagged up on a fly ball in the 7th inning, but didn’t appear to set himself to throw before making the catch. Anderson would later come around to score. Goins is a good defender at both second base and shortstop but with so little experience in the outfield, the Jays will be relying on him to figure things out on the fly.
Balks A Plenty
Both the Blue Jays and the White Sox were called for balks tonight – Drew Storen for Toronto in the 8th inning and Carlos Rodon for the White Sox in the 6th. Despite being called for balks, both Storen and Rodon appeared to do nothing out of the ordinary and neither situation involved deceiving a base runner that was looking to steal a base. While the enforcement of the balk rule is often debated and rarely understood, neither factored into the scoring and Bob Davidson was not involved in any of the calls on the field.
Up Next
Toronto’s series with the White Sox continues tomorrow afternoon (2PM EST) when RA Dickey takes the mound opposite Miguel Gonzalez. Gonzalez is the least intimidating (stuff wise) White Sox starter the Jays will face this weekend and the righty struggled earlier this season at the Rogers Centre, where he surrender 5 runs and 11 hits in 5 innings of work against the Blue Jays.
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