There were two opposing narratives entering today’s rubber match against the Chicago White Sox: Could the Jays’ offense score any runs off of Chris Sale, and would Marcus Stroman’s struggles on the mound continue? Stroman began the game strong, getting three groundball outs on seven pitches in the first inning. He looked a bit shaky in the second, giving up two singles, a walk and a wild pitch, but managed to exit the inning unscathed. It all came apart in the third inning, when Stroman started to leave balls up in the zone, resulting in what would become four earned runs by the time Stroman exited after the fifth inning. The Jays would start a rally in the eighth inning, with Troy Tulowitzki and Junior Lake each hitting solo home runs to cut the Sox’s lead in half, but Chicago would add an insurance run in the bottom of the inning with a J.B. Shuck home run off of Bo Schultz, who was called up ahead of today’s game to replace the injured Gavin Floyd. David Robertson pitched a clean top of the ninth to notch his 20th save of the season and to hand the Jays a series loss and their fifth loss in the last seven games.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
The game started to get away from Stroman in the third inning. It began with a one-out walk to Tyler Saladino who subsequently advanced to second base on an Edwin Encarnacion error. A single by Tim Anderson and squeeze bunt by Adam Eaton to score Saladino set the stage for former Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrara to single home Anderson for the top play of the game by WPA (.104).
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
After a strong first inning, Stroman began the second by giving up back-to-back singles to Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier, who subsequently advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After Cabrera made an out at third and a walk to Alex Avila, Stroman got Brett Lawrie to ground into a double play to end the inning, which was the bottom play of the game by WPA (-0.090).
Junior Lake Records First Hit with Blue Jays
Though he hasn’t exactly impressed fans this series, Junior Lake recorded his first hit – a home run – in the top of the eighth inning off starter Chris Sale.
Marcus Stroman Still Isn’t Right
Despite making a mechanical adjustment to bring his hands away from his head and eliminate some extra movement during his set-up, Stroman once again struggled to keep the ball down in the zone. His day ended after just five innings during which he gave up four earned runs on seven hits and four walks.
Up Next
The Blue Jays will face the Rockies next, in what will be Troy Tulowitzki’s first return to Colorado since he was traded to Toronto last July. Marco Estrada will face Jon Gray in the series opener, which begins at 8:40pm ET. Gray, who is 4-3 with a 4.80 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, is a groundball pitcher who relies on his 96 mph fastball and hard slider. It will be interesting to see if the Jays’ offense can get firing on all cylinders in Coors Field, which is notorious for being the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the majors. Equally as interesting will be how Marco Estrada, a fly ball pitcher, fares in a ballpark that sees an average of 1.417 home runs per game.
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