Strikeouts were the name of the game on this holiday Monday. The two teams combined for 40 strikeouts, with the Jays posting 22; a franchise record. For his part, Marcus Stroman struck out a career high 13 batters; four more than his previous best. Astros starter Doug Fister also got his fair share of K’s with eight over six innings. That’s his highest such total since 2013. Interestingly enough, it was a return to form for both starters. We all know of Stroman’s struggles this season; Doug Fister hasn’t been much better. Coming in to today’s game, Fister had posted a 3.73 ERA, but a 4.61 FIP and 4.90 DRA.
Today’s game caps off a nice stretch of starts for Marcus Stroman. By game score, he’s had just one below average start over his last six. Despite having many pitches to mix, it isn’t one particular pitch mix that has allowed Stroman to succeed. Instead, it’s some added command, a lack of which plagued him early in the season, that has helped Marcus return to form. Early on, Stroman was missing his spots, and missing them often. For most pitchers, that’ll create some poor results. For a pitcher like Stroman, who has tried to increasingly pitch to contact, that’ll create especially poor results.
Either way, good or not, Stroman’s pitching wasn’t enough for a victory. Granted, a few key Jays bats were out of the lineup, but they could only muster one run over 14 innings.
Top Play of the Game by WPA
Monday’s game featured very little in the way of action. Surprisingly, it was Russell Martin’s ninth inning home run off of Will Harris added the most in the way of win probability added (+.341). However, as we now know, the homer was enough to get the to extra innings, but not enough for the victory.
Bottom Play of the Game by WPA
The bottom play of the game came in the first inning, on the first batter, Devon Travis. Travis grounded out to Alex Bregman at third base. In some ways it was a precursor of what was to come: many Jays walking back to the dugout.
Up Next
Tomorrow at 8 PM EST, R.A. Dickey will take on the Astros’ Lance McCullers. It’ll be interesting to see how the bullpen is deployed after, after Monday’s 14 inning debacle. As well, we’ll see if Donaldson and Tulowitzki are back in the lineup.
Lead Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports