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	<title>Toronto &#187; Cleveland Indians</title>
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		<title>3 Things to Watch for Against Cleveland</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/21/3-things-to-watch-for-against-cleveland/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:51:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[BP Toronto Team]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=12520</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Written by Nick Dika, Cole Nefsky, and Joshua Howsam Kendrys Morales and Edwin Encarnacion are NOT really Having Similar Seasons With Toronto taking on Cleveland this weekend, the comparisons of two players inextricably tied to each other in many Blue Jays’ fans minds will face off for the second time this season: Kendrys Morales and [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><em>Written by Nick Dika, Cole Nefsky, and Joshua Howsam</em></p>
<h3>Kendrys Morales and Edwin Encarnacion are NOT really Having Similar Seasons</h3>
<p>With Toronto taking on Cleveland this weekend, the comparisons of two players inextricably tied to each other in many Blue Jays’ fans minds will face off for the second time this season: Kendrys Morales and Edwin Encarnacion.</p>
<p>You all know this story by now. The free agent market moved in a direction that no one (not general managers, not player agents, and not Jose Bautista) expected. The Blue Jays moved early to fill their designated hitter vacancy and signed Kendrys Morales to a three-year/$33 million contract. With the market for first base/DH types drying up, the Blue Jays franchise icon and first choice, signed a month later in Cleveland for three years and $60 million (keep in mind the deal has an option for a fourth year) – fewer years and dollars than the Jays offered at the beginning of the offseason in either case.</p>
<p>A look at more traditional stats have led some to suggest Morales (.255 AVG, 17 HR, 52 RBI) and Encarnacion (.255, 19 HR, 50 RBI) are having similar seasons. But when it comes to some of the less traditional elements of offensive production, Encarnacion has been far better than Morales in 2017.</p>
<p>When it comes to getting on base, Encarnacion’s on-base percentage is 60 points higher than Morales’. Encarnacion’s 55 walks also mean he has been on base 32 more times than Morales already this season. Encarnacion’s ability to reach base has likely contributed to more runs scored: 57 to Morales’ 43.</p>
<p>The odd thing is that Morales does hit the ball harder than Encarnacion. The Jays&#8217; current DH is in the top-25 in all of baseball in terms of average exit velocity, ahead of players like Bryce Harper and Miguel Cabrera with an average exit velocity of 92.1 miles per hour. EE meanwhile sits a tick above league average (87.69) at 88.68 mph. Despite his outstanding exit velocity, what seems to be limiting the damage of Morales’ hard hit balls is his groundball tendency. Morales has hit the ball on the ground 50.2% of the time this season compared to 31.9% of the time for Encarnacion. League average should be around 44%.</p>
<p>The mere fact that Kendrys Morales is the next player to occupy the DH position doesn’t mean we need to measure him against his predecessor. Morales can be better, no move is made in a vacuum and ultimately, it sure doesn’t feel like the difference between a successful and unsuccessful 2017 for the Blue Jays would be Edwin’s bat in the lineup (assuming he doesn’t play left field that is). Because of a high walk rate and his ability to keep the ball off the ground, Encarnacion has been a much more productive player than Kendrys Morales this season even with a slow start and a drop in Encarnacion’s slugging percentage. Despite what the national TV broadcast stats say Edwin is the far better offensive player. But don’t worry…because Justin Smoak is a beast now.</p>
<h3>Lost Lindor</h3>
<p>After coming out of the gate with a modified style, swinging for the fences, and clearly buying into all of the air-ball-revolution hubbub, Francisco Lindor has been pretty disappointing this season. His TAv sits at .259, a career low, which looks even worse when you consider how hot he started. There was even a point, albeit very early in the season, when Ben Lindbergh on <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/effectively-wild-episode-1051-the-mike-trout-challengers/" target="_blank">the Effectively Wild podcast</a> addressed the question of whether or not Lindor had taken Mike Trout’s place as the top player in the league.</p>
<p>This point, though seemingly silly on its surface, was actually one well-made and worth considering. Last year, Lindor was one of the best defensive shortstops in the league with 19.3 FRAA. If you combine that with the ~.320 TAv that he had early in the year, that gives you a player with better WARP than Trout. Since then, though, Lindor hasn’t been very good at all. The two components causing this are his BABIP, sitting at .266, and his glove, worth -1.3 FRAA. That’s right, <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-francisco-lindor-effect-is-ridiculous/" target="_blank">the Lindor Effect</a>, coined by Jeff Sullivan, seems to have disappeared from the world entirely.</p>
<p>Now, this means two things of note. The first is that he has been extraordinarily bad, suggesting that he has probably had some sort of skill deterioration. The other is that it is more than possible that you should expect Lindor to regress somewhat back to the mean. His .266 BABIP isn’t average, where it used to be above average. It’s not even just below average. It is downright terrible. Fielding, on the other hand, doesn’t often make 20 run true talent turnarounds between seasons. Francisco Lindor has been one of my favorite players to watch since his ascendency to the Bigs, and I hope that he returns to being that player. Just maybe after the series against the Jays.</p>
<h3>LOTS OF STRIKEOUTS</h3>
<p>It’s not real secret that the Jays aren’t designed to be a team that makes a ton of contact. Built around the expected power of guys like Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Bautista, Kendrys Morales, Justin Smoak, and Russell Martin, this club was always expected to strike out at a higher than average clip. Surprisingly though, as a team they have the 12th fewest strikeouts in baseball and the sixth fewest in the American League. So as a whole, the club actually strikes out less than the average club.</p>
<p>That’s likely going to change in this series, however. The Cleveland pitching staff has had its great performances and mediocre or a bad ones, but across the board they have one thing in common: They are really good at striking hitters out; Cleveland’s staff as a whole has a K/9 of 10.03, which ranks second in baseball to the Houston Astros (10.2).</p>
<p>Typically people associate the daunting Cleveland bullpen or ace Corey Kluber with the big strikeout rate. They’d be correct of course, as Kluber, Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, and Boone Logan all have K/9’s over 12.00, but they’re not the only sources. The Jays are lucky to miss Kluber in this series, but they’ll still have trouble with the remaining starters.</p>
<p>The Jays are likely to see the trio of Trevor Bauer (unless he starts playing with drones again), Carlos Carrasco, and Danny Salazar. Their respective K/9s: 10.1, 10.0, 12.6. That’s a LOT of swing and miss. Then if they get into the earlier parts of the Cleveland pen, the Jays will still have to deal with Nick Goody (10.4) and Zack McAllister (10.6).</p>
<p>It’ll be interesting to see how the Jays adjust to these types of arms. Salazar and Bauer can absolutely be hit hard (as evidenced by their respective ERAs of 5.40 and 5.59), but the swing and miss means Toronto will likely have trouble stringing hits together (a problem they have faced all season). This could mean more dreaded smallball (the Blue Jays are actually second in the AL in sac bunts), but in the end, to win the series the Jays will need to rely on the long ball as they have for much of the past two seasons. If they hit home runs, they have a great shot to win the series and finish the road trip at or better than .500 (they&#8217;re currently 3-4). If the ball stays in the yard, Cleveland shouldn&#8217;t have too much difficulty with Toronto.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong></p>
<p>Now it <a href="https://twitter.com/CleveIndiansRR/status/888450667223896064" target="_blank">looks like</a> the Jays WILL face Kluber in Sunday&#8217;s finale. Yikes.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>An Early End to the Blue Jays Comeback (and Season)</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/20/an-early-end-to-the-blue-jays-comeback-and-season/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Oct 2016 16:52:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Evan Peaslee]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7626</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TORONTO – Well, that didn’t last long. The hope, the optimism, the belief &#8211; they all died quickly in the Blue Jays’ ALCS Game 5 matinee against Cleveland. Cleveland scored three times, once in the first, then again in the third and fourth, and the Jays hardly threatened, if ever. Ryan Merritt threw slop that [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>TORONTO – Well, that didn’t last long. The hope, the optimism, the belief &#8211; they all died quickly in the Blue Jays’ ALCS Game 5 matinee against Cleveland.</p>
<p>Cleveland scored three times, once in the first, then again in the third and fourth, and the Jays hardly threatened, if ever. Ryan Merritt threw slop that Toronto couldn’t hit, and then the bullpen came in and did bullpen things.</p>
<p>It was another exciting season in Toronto, but now it’s over. An offense that struggled all September reared its ugly head at the worst possible time. Even solid pitching up and down the Jays staff couldn’t help them. They needed to be perfect and they weren’t.</p>
<p>If you’re a Jays fan there’s a lot to bemoan. The team is better than it performed in the ALCS, and certainly better than their 11-16 September. But you also must tip your cap to Cleveland. With two fantastic starters out with injury manager, Terry Francona mixed and matched his way to a World Series berth.</p>
<p>“We grinded. We battled. The other team just did a bit more than us,” Russell Martin said. “They pitched extremely well all the way through the whole series – their starters, their bullpen, everybody, they played good defence. They didn’t make too many mistakes. I feel like they made one mistake and that was the game we won…But overall they deserved it, they played really well.”</p>
<p>With neither offense performing at peak levels it came down to pitching and key hits, and it seemed that more often than not Cleveland found a way to come through at critical times, especially early in games. In fact Toronto outhit Cleveland 32-25 in the series but were outscored 12-8 in an extremely low-scoring series.</p>
<p>The loss hit the players pretty hard. The clubhouse was very sombre after the game. A lot of man hugs and best wishes were given, and players were packing up and putting things into boxes, some knowing they may never be in that clubhouse again. Part of that mood stemmed from the attitude and belief that they were better than they performed, and had a whole lot more fight left in them. None of them ready for the season to be over.</p>
<p>“I wish we were still playing. This team had a lot left in it. Just came up a little short,” Marco Estrada said.</p>
<blockquote><p>“I wish we were still playing. This team had a lot left in it. Just came up a little short.” &#8211; Marco Estrada</p></blockquote>
<p>“I think not winning games is the biggest disappointment,” Kevin Pillar said. “We were in every game and that’s all you can ask for this time of year we just didn’t come up with a big hit.</p>
<p>“Each and every one of us, you can look at everyone in this room, everyone had opportunities to drive in some runs and it just didn’t work out that way. It’s unfortunate, but everyone’s going to go home, reflect on it, improve, and come back and look forward to doing it again.”</p>
<p>That was the overwhelming silver lining of a season now lost. There’s a returning core for the Blue Jays that should make them a viable playoff candidate regardless of what moves are made in the offseason.</p>
<p>The strength of the team, the rotation, stays fully intact &#8211; minus the likely departure of R.A. Dickey &#8211; with Francisco Liriano the heir to the fifth starter role. Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, Devon Travis, Kevin Pillar, and Russell Martin are also all under contract, meaning the defence up the middle and a part of the heart of the order will be returning. Lastly, the team’s best bullpen piece, closer Roberto Osuna, will continue to close out games and Joe Biagini and likely Jason Grilli will be there to help get him the ball. There’s a lot to work with even if Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Michael Saunders, and Brett Cecil find work elsewhere. Those holes will be filled, but it all starts with starting pitching and defense, and the Jays should have that in spades entering 2017.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I’m sure there will be some disappointments and grumbling and complaining about how you fell short again, but that’s not coming from me, because I know what these guys did, and I think it’s a pretty good accomplishment.&#8221; &#8211; John Gibbons</p></blockquote>
<p>That, however, doesn’t take the sting out of Wednesday’s loss for fans. But after 22 years without a playoff berth, coupled with back to back trips to the American League Championship Series, there’s a lot to be thankful for too.</p>
<p>“The tough part is getting in (to the playoffs),” manager John Gibbons. “So many good teams out there. In the American League we look at it all the time. All the divisions are good and competitive. To stay on top or get close to the top, near the top, it takes a lot. A lot of things have got to go your way.</p>
<p>“I’m sure there will be some disappointments and grumbling and complaining about how you fell short again, but that’s not coming from me, because I know what these guys did, and I think it’s a pretty good accomplishment. The key is we want to take that next step on of these days, hopefully it’s next year. But these guys, they did a hell of a job.”</p>
<p>That doesn’t make the result any easier to swallow. Everyone wanted more; the fans, the players, the coaches, the staff. Everyone thought this team had more to give, but just like last season they fell just short. An admirable accomplishment, it’s just that they wanted more.</p>
<p>“Both times that we lost it sucked equally,” Martin said. “This sucks. It’s part of the game. Only one team goes home happy. Unfortunately it’s not us.”</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Blue Jays Bats Stay Silent</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/10/18/blue-jays-bats-stay-silent/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2016 14:22:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Evan Peaslee]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[TORONTO – It’s no fun to pile on when a person is down, but so far in the American League Championship Series the Toronto Blue Jays have been completely outplayed in every facet. No one is going to point fingers at the Jays’ pitching, but a whole lot of weight falls on the shoulders of [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>TORONTO – It’s no fun to pile on when a person is down, but so far in the American League Championship Series the Toronto Blue Jays have been completely outplayed in every facet. No one is going to point fingers at the Jays’ pitching, but a whole lot of weight falls on the shoulders of an offense that simply isn’t getting it done.</p>
<p>The Toronto offense is Arctic cold right now; they have scored a season-low in runs over a three game stretch in the most important time of the year. If you’re a Jays fan there isn’t a whole lot to hang your hat on at the moment. They’ve squandered alarmingly favourable matchups the last two games, one of which came against 8.1 innings from the Cleveland bullpen and the other versus Josh Tomlin.</p>
<p>“They shut us down,&#8221; Jays manager John Gibbons said. &#8220;They did a great job going through a number of guys and did a good job shutting us down.</p>
<p>“I still believe our offense is due to erupt. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve seen it too many times. Hopefully (Tuesday) is that day, we’ll see.”</p>
<p>While certainly the Cleveland pitching staff deserves a ton of credit for making the Toronto hitters look completely lifeless at the plate, the simple matter of the fact is that some of the Jays&#8217; big bats are just missing pitches. Take the fifth inning of Monday’s game. The Blue Jays had just tied the game at two on a groundout by Ryan Goins that scored Ezequiel Carrera and the heart of the Toronto lineup was coming up to bat to face Bryan Shaw. All three of them had a pitch to hit, and only Josh Donaldson was able to do something with it.</p>
<p>Take a look at what Jose Bautista had to hit(below).</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Bautista.gif"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-7565" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Bautista.gif" alt="Bautista" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p>That blue dot is a cutter that Cleveland righty Bryan Shaw threw right down the middle of the plate. Bautista flied out to left field about 20 feet short of the wall.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/eddie.gif"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-7566" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/eddie.gif" alt="eddie" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>
<p>That&#8217;s the cutter that Encarnacion missed(above). Typically he smashes those pitches if this heat map is any indication(below):</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/slug.png"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-7567" src="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/slug.png" alt="slug" width="500" height="500" /></a></p>
<p>Now, these charts and missed pitches don&#8217;t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. Just like pitchers, hitters miss sometimes. Baseball is an extremely hard and complicated game. The best of the best miss less often than everyone else, which Bautista and Encarnacion are certainly in that category. What it <em>does </em>indicate is what anyone can see with their eyes; the Jays&#8217; offense is off. The likelihood of either of them missing those pitches when they&#8217;re seeing the ball well is slim. However, even if both sluggers would&#8217;ve reached base versus Shaw it doesn&#8217;t mean the Jays would&#8217;ve won, but for a team that hasn&#8217;t even held the lead at any point in the the series, at least one hit could&#8217;ve gone a long way to building some form of momentum.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not just the big bats that are missing either. Troy Tulowitzki, Bautista, Kevin Pillar, and Russell Martin are a combined 4-for-41 in the series, with Martin looking particularly lost at the plate. Dioner Navarro has as many hits as each of them, and that came in one at-bat. However, after the loss in Game 3 Gibbons didn&#8217;t sound like he was thinking about changing the lineup once again in hopes of sparking the offense.</p>
<p>“I may have already done that enough,&#8221; Gibbons said. &#8220;No, we’ll run the boys out there tomorrow that got us to this point. It’s a pretty good group. And they’re due. They’re due. We’ll see. We’ll see if it’s (Tuesday).”</p>
<p>The task will be a whole lot harder with Corey Kluber, the 2014 Cy Young winner on the mound for Cleveland. The man who escaped trouble in the first three innings of Game 1 before getting locked in and shutting out the Blue Jays over 6.1 innings and allowing just six hits.</p>
<p>While the task may be daunting, what the Jays need is pretty simple.</p>
<p>&#8220;We just got to play better,&#8221; Pillar said. &#8220;We got to figure out a way to get to their starting pitching early, get a lead, and play from ahead for once.</p>
<p>“This [team] is filled with guys that would damn near sell their soul to get to the World Series and we understand we still have that opportunity we just need to play better. It’s that simple.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Blue Jays 6, Indians 5; Jays Bounce Back, Hold On For The Win</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/20/recap-blue-jays-6-indians-5-jays-bounce-back-hold-on-for-the-win/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2016 02:26:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Eric Mercer]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Blue Jays had their bats primed and ready to go at the beginning of this game. They scored five runs over the first four innings with two opposite field homers. Russell Martin continued his hot streak by launching a solo shot to right centre. In the next inning, Melvin Upton Jr. showcased his own [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Blue Jays had their bats primed and ready to go at the beginning of this game. They scored five runs over the first four innings with two opposite field homers. Russell Martin continued his hot streak by launching a solo shot to right centre. In the next inning, Melvin Upton Jr. showcased his own power to the opposite side of the field, hitting a two run homer to nearly an identical spot. The Blue Jays other runs were scored in completely the opposite fashion. Devon Travis hit a slow chopper up the third base line with men on second and third and two out. Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez attempted to bare hand the ball and missed it. This allowed Barney to score from third but on a truly heads up play by Goins he saw that the ball went by Ramirez and no one was close to it. So, even though the ball was feet from third base, Goins decided to take the chance and bolt home. His daring decision turned out to be successful and an enormous run for the Blue Jays as they were able to hold on and win by one run.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The Jays had built up a substantial lead going into Cleveland&#8217;s half of the 4th inning. The Bluebirds had tallied five runs and had limited the Tribe to zero. Devon Travis committed an error that likely would have resulted in a double play had he made an accurate throw to second base. This set the stage eventually for Lonnie Chisenhall, who stepped to the plate later that inning with his team already having plated two runs. Cleveland players occupied both first and second, and Chisenhall worked the count against Sanchez, eventually getting a pitch to his liking and depositing it into the bleachers in right-centre field. In one swing, the Jays lead had evaporated and the game was tied. Chisenhall increased his teams chance of winning by 0.284 WPA.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p><del>Former Blue Jay Frank Francisco</del> Mike Napoli came to the plate in the 8th inning with his team trailing by one run. Francisco Lindor was standing on first base with only one out. In classic Mike Napoli fashion, he ripped the ball straight into the ground toward Devon Travis. Travis moved to his left, threw over to Goins who calmy tossed the ball to Edwin to record the inning-ending double play. Napoli decreased his teams chance to win by -0.145 WPA with one ill-advised swing of the bat.</p>
<h3>Russell Martin Cannot Miss!</h3>
<p>Martin continued his torrid pace of late, hitting another home run tonight and added a single. Over his last six games, Martin has hit 12-24 with six home runs. The man is seeing beach balls at the plate. This season has not been favourable to Martin yet, but this recent streak has helped swing the season around. As the Jays come down the stretch for the post-season, they need everyone to play up to their ceiling; especially those who have been disappointments at the plate so far. It is evident that Tulowitzki has been mashing the ball recently, and now Martin has joined him.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Jays finish up the series with Cleveland tomorrow at 1:10 pm with <del>staff ace</del> Marcus Stroman going up against former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Rick Osentoski &#8211; USA Today Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Indians 3, Blue Jays 2; Jays Lose Heartbreaker In Ninth</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/19/recap-indians-3-blue-jays-2-jays-lose-heartbreaker-in-ninth/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Aug 2016 02:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jenn Smith]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cleveland Indians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=5719</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays rolled into Cleveland for a three-game weekend set against the Indians in what would be a preview of the Jays&#8217; ALDS matchup if the season were to end today. Francisco Liriano took the mound against Trevor Bauer who, if you recall, was the winning pitcher during that marathon game on Canada Day &#8211; the same [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays rolled into Cleveland for a three-game weekend set against the Indians in what would be a preview of the Jays&#8217; ALDS matchup if the season were to end today. Francisco Liriano took the mound against Trevor Bauer who, if you recall, was the winning pitcher during that marathon game on Canada Day &#8211; the same guy who saw fit to tweet a much of American flags after that win. Isn&#8217;t it fitting, then, that Russell Martin took him deep in the first inning with Michael Saunders on base to give the Jays an early 2-0 lead.</p>
<p>The Jays threatened in the fourth when two reached with two outs, but, like clockwork, Justin Smoak struck out for the second time on a low curve. Liriano, meanwhile, did work tonight, keeping opposing batters off balance with a diet of fourseam fastballs on the inside of the plate and changeups, while throwing his hard slider for strike outs. He got into a bit of trouble the third time through the order, when a passed ball to Russell Martin and an error on Devon Travis (his second of the game) along with a couple of hits led to the Indians scoring an unearned run. Liriano managed to limit the damage, however, striking out Jose Ramirez to end the inning.</p>
<p>In what was his best outing as a Blue Jay thus far, Liriano went six strong innings, giving up just an unearned run on four hits and two walks while striking out seven. Joaquin Benoit took over in the seventh, striking out two in a three up, three down inning. Jason Grilli entered the game in the eighth, pitching around a one-out walk to get out of the inning unscathed. But, the bottom of the ninth proved to be a heartbreaker. Jose Ramierez hit a 0-2 solo home run off closer Roberto Osuna to tie the game. And then, things got ugly. Tyler Naquin drilled a pitch to right field that hit off the top of the wall, ritcocheing away from Michael Saunders into centre field. Melvin Upton Jr., who did not appear to be anywhere near the play, grabbed the ball and slipped, resulting in an inside-the-park walk-off home run and one of the Jays&#8217; most frustrating losses of the season.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The Jays were just two outs away from a win despite fielding a sub-optimal lineup when Jose Ramierez hit a game-tying home run off of Roberto Osuna to provide the top play of the game by WPA (.470).</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>Though it mattered not with regards to the outcome of this game, the bottom of the ninth began with Carlos Santana popping out to Russell Martin in foul territory, which was the bottom play of the game by WPA (-.085).</p>
<h3>Donaldson, Tulowitzki Out of the Lineup</h3>
<p>In case you missed it, neither Josh Donaldson (jammed thumb) nor Troy Tulowitzki (sore calf) were in the lineup Friday night and are listed as day-to-day. Ryan Goins was recalled from Buffalo ahead of the game to shore up the infield.</p>
<h3>Once Again: So Many Strikeouts</h3>
<p>The Jays&#8217; offense was once again plagued by strikeouts tonight, whiffing a total of 15 times, including three by Justin Smoak. Though strike outs are to be expected from an offense that relies on the home run, it is a trend that is particularly frustrating when the Jays aren&#8217;t fielding their best lineup.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Jays will try to shake this one off as they go at it again tomorrow. Two very different pitchers will take the mound for their respective teams tomorrow, with the hard-throwing Aaron Sanchez (12-2, 2.84) up against Josh Tomlin&#8217;s (11-6, 4.14) 86 mph cutter. Game gets underway at 7:10 PM ET.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Ken Blaze &#8211; USA Today Sports</em></p>
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