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	<title>Toronto &#187; Game Recap</title>
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	<description>Comprehensive coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays</description>
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		<title>Recap: Orioles 3, Blue Jays 2; Liriano Dazzles But The Bullpen Blows It</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/28/recap-orioles-3-blue-jays-2-liriano-dazzles-but-the-bullpen-blows-it/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2016 02:42:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Passador]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baltimore Orioles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Recap]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7072</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Blue Jays were back in action on Wednesday looking to take the series from the rival Orioles and looked to be in good shape until the game&#8217;s final two innings. There were no late game heroics for the Jays, who dropped the second game of the series after failing to cash in on offensive [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Blue Jays were back in action on Wednesday looking to take the series from the rival Orioles and looked to be in good shape until the game&#8217;s final two innings. There were no late game heroics for the Jays, who dropped the second game of the series after failing to cash in on offensive opportunities and left Roberto Osuna with a razor thin margin that he couldn&#8217;t handle.</p>
<p>Ezeqiuel Carrera did some nice work out of the leadoff spot tonight, reaching base each of his first three trips to the plate. He led off the game reaching first thanks to a Chris Davis error and advanced to third on an error by pitcher Chris Tillman. Edwin Encarnacion&#8217;s sacrifice fly brought Carerra home to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. Kevin Pillar notched a sac fly of his own in the 2nd, scoring Troy Tulowitzki from third after he doubled and was advanced by a Michael Saunders single. That pushed the lead to 2-0, where the score would remain until the 8th.</p>
<p>The Jays had a few chances to score but played their way out of runs, notably when Jose Bautista was doubled off second base after a nice grab in left and when Melvin Upton Jr. struck out with the bases loaded to end the 8th. For their part, the Orioles also weaved their way in and out of run-scoring opportunities but were shut down each time by Francisco Liriano.</p>
<p>Liriano was wonderful tonight, tossing 6.2 innings of shutout ball while racking up 10 strikeouts. In <a title="Down to The Wire: Orioles Series Preview" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/27/down-to-the-wire-orioles-series-preview/" target="_blank">our series preview we discussed Liriano&#8217;s swing-and-miss potential</a> and that nasty stuff allowed him to work out of a few tense moments. Each of the six hits he surrendered were singles and he only issued one free pass on the night. Liriano has now gone two starts without allowing a run and has definitely vaulted himself into the playoff rotation conversation.</p>
<p>While he was excellent throughout the game, two singles in the top of the 7th were enough to bring John Gibbons out of the dugout. With his typical 7th inning options unavailable, Gibbons called on Brett Cecil to take on right handers Nolan Reimold and Adam Jones. Cecil struck out Reimold (despite three pitches right down the middle) and retired Jones to strand the runners and preserve a two run lead. Cecil started the 8th and got Davis (now 3-24 against Cecil) to strike out before ceding way to Jason Grilli, who gave up a long homer to Mark Trumbo and a double to Pedro Alvarez before getting Matt Weiters to fly out to escape the jam.</p>
<p>Roberto Osuna came in to work the 9th and gave up a single and a home run to Hyun Soo Kim on the 9th pitch of the at bat to put the Orioles in front 3-2. Zach Britton came on and locked things down without any trouble to secure the win for Baltimore. The Jays completely blew their chance to shovel some dirt on Baltimore&#8217;s postseason hopes and have let another team stay nipping at their heels.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The top play of the game is of course Hyun Soo Kim&#8217;s home run in the top of the 9th. The dinger not only won the game but may have saved Baltimore&#8217;s season considering how tight the wild card race is. His go-ahead shot was worth a whopping .597 WPA.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>Tonight&#8217;s bottom play came in the top of the 5th when Liriano struck out Chris Davis to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. Davis&#8217; K was worth -.097 WPA.</p>
<h3>Donaldson Dinged Up?</h3>
<p>Josh Donaldson pulled up with a grimace after hustling his way to first base on a potential double play ball in the bottom of the 5th. He looked to be running a little gingerly on the next ball in play but managed to stay in the game. The team has to be hoping he avoided any re-aggravation of the hip problem that&#8217;s dogged him recently. It wouldn&#8217;t be all that surprising to see Darwin Barney at the hot corner tomorrow but we&#8217;ll have to wait and see how the reigning MVP feels overnight.</p>
<h3>Bricolage Bullpen</h3>
<p>With Joaquin Benoit unavailable, much has been made over how the Blue Jays will get the ball to Roberto Osuna in the 9th. John Gibbons has spoken about stretching his starters a little bit further and Liriano certainly held up his end of the bargain. With the tying runs on base and new 7th inning guy Joe Biagini unavailable, we saw a little bit of Brett Cecil circa 2015. Cecil was tasked with facing two right handers in front of Chris Davis and delivered tonight.</p>
<p>Jason Grilli, on the other hand, continued to struggle. He conceded a second deck dinger to Mark Trumbo and a double to Pedro Alvarez and may be losing his grip on the 8th inning. If Grilli continues to falter it&#8217;ll make the late innings even more of a minefield for the Jays (Ryan Tepera warmed up in the 8th tonight) so keep an eye on how they tackle outs 18-24 going forward. With three straight blown saves, the solution in the bullpen can&#8217;t come soon enough.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Jays wrap up their regular season home slate tomorrow night in the series finale. Marcus Stroman (9-9, 4.34 ERA) will take on Ubaldo Jimenez (7-12, 5.71 ERA) with first pitch set for 7:07 PM ET. A win would go a long way to securing a playoff spot, lest they tempt fate and wait to get the job done over a rainy weekend in Fenway.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Royals 7, Blue Jays 1; Bloops, Bunts, and Blasts Beat Blue Jays</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/07/recap-royals-7-blue-jays-1-bloops-bunts-and-blasts-beat-blue-jays/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Aug 2016 21:05:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Passador]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Recap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kansas City Royals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Royals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=5271</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Blue Jays dropped the rubber game of a three game set to Kansas City on Sunday afternoon as the offense once again failed to deliver in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the reigning champs. Marcus Stroman was bested by Yordano Ventura and the Jays failed to take advantage of their nine baserunners [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Blue Jays dropped the rubber game of a three game set to Kansas City on Sunday afternoon as the offense once again failed to deliver in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the reigning champs. Marcus Stroman was bested by Yordano Ventura and the Jays failed to take advantage of their nine baserunners on the day in a disappointing end to the road trip.</p>
<p>Stroman struggled to deal with Royals Baseball<sup>(TM)</sup>, victimized by bloops and bunts and only exacerbated the problems with some mistakes of his own. In the second inning Stroman fielded a weak comebacker after issuing a leadoff walk to Kendrys Morales. Stroman fired high on what should&#8217;ve been a double play and allowed Alex Gordon to reach on a fielder&#8217;s choice. Two singles and an RBI bunt (plus a Stroman throwing error) later, Kansas City took a 2-0 lead. A leadoff home run in the fifth inning from Alcides Escobar accounted for the other run off Stroman on the day. His final line reads 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K on 95 pitches.</p>
<p>Scott Feldman worked a clean sixth but ran into trouble in the seventh. The Royals came back out and collected three straight hits (one bunt, of course) off of Scott Feldman to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout of Lorenzo Cain, Brett Cecil came in to try and put out the fire. He struck out Eric Hosmer and then conceded a two out grand slam to Morales to put the game away.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays had runners on in five innings but only had one make it to third base. With just one hit since the fourth inning, the team wasted four walks from Ventura and failed to drive in any runs. The lone run of the day came in the seventh when Darwin Barney scored on a wild pitch. It was a deflating day for the Blue Jays who could muster only six hits in dropping the series finale.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The top play of the day came in the second inning when backup catcher Drew Butera poked a soft liner into the outfield to cash in Alex Gordon. Gordon was the batter who reached thanks to Stroman&#8217;s bad throw on a double play attempt. That misfire cost Stroman in the end, as Butera&#8217;s RBI single notched a 0.128 WPA.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The bottom play of the game also came in the second inning when Alcides Escobar grounded into a strange double play. With runners on second and third, Escobar grounded out sharply to Edwin Encarnacion at first. Butera held up at third but Raul Mondesi foolishly took off from second base. Encarnacion astutely ran Mondesi to third and forced Butera to head home where he was tagged out by Josh Thole after a brief rundown. The play was good for a -0.094 WPA.</p>
<h3>Devon Travis Still Swinging</h3>
<p>The sophomore second baseman pushed his hitting streak to four and has hit safely in nine of his last eleven games. Travis entered Toronto&#8217;s July 10th game against Detroit with a .262 batting average but has climbed all the way up to .293. Since that day he&#8217;s hit .355 with four home runs and 10 RBI. While the rest of the team is slumping, Travis has been excelling at the top of the lineup. He looks to have reclaimed the leadoff role and will hopefully continue to provide a steady on-base presence atop the order.</p>
<h3>Offensive Outage</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays are going through something of a late-summer swoon as of late, having scored just 17 runs on this seven game road trip. If not for the hot streak of Travis, the team might be looking at a very different week in the rearview mirror. The strikeouts piled up in Houston and it felt like the Jays couldn&#8217;t catch a break in Kansas City. Whatever the case, the team will try to leave those troubles behind and get back on track with a brief homestand.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>Despite dropping two of three to Kansas City, the Blue Jays will be satisfied with a 4-3 record on their road trip through Houston and KC. The team returns home tomorrow to kick off a three game set with the Tampa Bay Rays. R.A. Dickey (8-12, 4.49 ERA) will toe the rubber against right hander Jake Odorizzi (6-5, 3.70 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 7:07 PM EST.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Blue Jays 6, Rays 1; The Good Aaron Sanchez is Back</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/29/sanchez-dealing/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/29/sanchez-dealing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Apr 2016 02:27:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sean Addis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aaron Sanchez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drew Storen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Recap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home runs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[house of horrors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josh Donaldson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Saunders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=2118</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays opened a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night in St. Petersburg.  This is already the second trip in 2016 to the “House of Horrors” for the Blue Jays.  The last time they split a four game series at Tropicana Field but missed an opportunity to sweep the [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays opened a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night in St. Petersburg.  This is already the second trip in 2016 to the “House of Horrors” for the Blue Jays.  The last time they split a four game series at Tropicana Field but missed an opportunity to sweep the series due to some bullpen meltdowns, a poor managerial decision and the “infamous” illegal second base slide by Jose Bautista.   The Jays entered the night on a three game losing streak, wherein the Toronto offense had been struggling.  Having tallied one run in the last 24 innings.  Tampa Bay was sending the tough lefty Drew Smyly to face Aaron Sanchez of the Blue Jays.</p>
<p>Sanchez was just coming off his shortest and least effective start last Friday against the Athletics.  This start didn’t begin as he hoped as he allowed two singles to the first two hitters Logan Forsythe and Brad Miller.  However, he was able to retire the next three hitters on eight pitches, including two strikeouts.  He carried that effectiveness throughout the game, mixing his pitches and keeping his fastball down.  Sanchez’s final line was 7 IP, 0 ER, 2BB, 6K.  103 pitches/71 strikes.</p>
<p>Smyly  was effective, and able to keep the Jays hitters off balance by inducing many weak pop ups and striking out eight over six innings.  He only allowed two hits, however, they were monster home runs by Michael Saunders and Josh Donaldson.  Saunders&#8217; off the top of the wall in deep center, Donaldson’s a moon shot off the catwalk in the outfield.  He left the game down 2-0.</p>
<p>The Jays were able to take advantage of the Rays bullpen and added on three more runs in the eighth inning.  Saunders hit his second home run of the game and Justin Smoak lined a two run single with the bases loaded.  They added another run in the ninth on an improbable opposite field solo shot off the bat of the second baseman Ryan Goins.  The Rays countered with a solo shot by Brad Miller off the struggling Drew Storen (10.13 ERA).</p>
<p>Roberto Osuna, needing some work, finished this game in the ninth as the Jays took game one by a score of 6-1.</p>
<h3> Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>Josh Donaldson, who commented after the loss Wednesday night that some of the hitters in the lineup had to &#8220;evaluate their approach at the plate&#8221;, continued his flawless approach. He hit a massive sixth inning home run  that gave the Jays a 2-0 lead and increased the WPA by .137.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The Jays had just opened the scoring in the top of the third with a solo shot by Michael Saunders, and the Rays were threatening in the bottom of the inning.  With two on and one out the Rays best hitter Evan Longoria came to the plate and proceeded to fly out to right field and reduced the Rays the WPA by -.055.</p>
<h3>Russell Martin Avoids Infamy</h3>
<p>Russell Martin entered the game tied with Juan Francisco, Alex Rios, Colby Rasmus with the dubious record of most consecutive Blue Jay strikeouts (as a batter) with seven.  He proceeded to strike out in his first two at bats of the night and set a new Blue Jay record.  In the seventh inning, he ended the streak by hitting a single to the opposite field, coming up short of Rick Ankiel&#8217;s record of 10 consecutive K&#8217;s.  Martin has been dealing with neck pain and it is most likely impacting his ability at the plate, but his value behind the plate is crucial to the success of this team.</p>
<h3>Captain Canada: Michael Saunders</h3>
<p>Since being inserted into the leadoff spot Michael Saunders continues to produce quality at bats for the Jays.  He has been taking pitches, hitting the ball with authority and is a solid table setter for the rest of the lineup.  Tonight he took things into his own hands having his first multi home run game as a Blue Jay. A line of .324/.377/.606 is more than the Jays could have hoped for, and he, too, was in the hunt for a Blue Jays record tonight.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Michael Saunders is the 3rd different Canadian in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> history with a multi-Home Run game (Martin 2x, Stairs)</p>
<p>— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/726217354636595202">April 30, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Jays go for two wins in a row Saturday as JA Happ (and his 2.42 ERA) will take on Tampa ace Chris Archer (and his 5.47 ERA) starting at 6:10 pm. Yes, those are the correct numbers beside their names.</p>
<p><em> Feature Photo- Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 7; Bullpen Brings Gas Can to Put Out Fire</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/09/recap-red-sox-8-blue-jays-7-bullpen-brings-gas-to-put-out-fire/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Apr 2016 13:08:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sean Addis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Recap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marcus Stroman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Red Sox]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=1247</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It was time for 2016 Home Opener and the city was buzzing with anticipation. The Roger Centre was filled to capacity with over 48,000 fans who filed in early to catch the opening ceremonies &#8211; which included the Jays first MVP (1987) George Bell presenting last years MVP Josh Donaldson with his plaque, video tributes to [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It was time for 2016 Home Opener and the city was buzzing with anticipation. The Roger Centre was filled to capacity with over 48,000 fans who filed in early to catch the opening ceremonies &#8211; which included the Jays first MVP (1987) George Bell presenting last years MVP Josh Donaldson with his plaque, video tributes to last years amazing pennant run, and long time Blue Jay President Paul Beeston throwing out the first pitch. But even with this exciting atmosphere the Jays would repeat an all too familiar pattern in this early season by getting an early lead only to have it given away late by the bullpen.</p>
<p>The Jays were able to once again drive the opposing starting pitcher from the game early, this time it was Joe Kelly. Besides surrendering a leadoff triple to Kevin Pillar (which scored on a sacrifice fly by Edwin Encarnacian), Kelly was very effective through the first three innings by mixing his fastball and off speed pitches. But in the fourth the Jays scored six runs before recording an out, capped off by a Josh Donaldson grand slam (the first in franchise history in a home opener). This made the score 7-2 Jays and with Marcus Stroman pitching looked to be enough.</p>
<p>However, in the top of the 6th Stroman gave up a leadoff double to Dustin Pedroia and then walks to David Ortiz and Travis Shaw surrounding a Hanley Ramirez ground out. Gibbons elected to go to Jesse Chavez to face Brock Holt over Franklin Morales who would have inevitably faced lefty masher Chris Young (it was later revealed that Morales was unavailable to pitch as he felt weakness in his shoulder after throwing one pitch…. uh oh). A of couple pitches later Brock Hol, had hit the second grand slam of the game and it was just a one run Jays lead.</p>
<p>In the seventh inning, Drew Storen and Brett Cecil combined to give up four straight singles with one out to give the Red Sox an 8-7 lead that they would never relinquish.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>In the top of the seventh, after getting the first out, Drew Storen gave up back to back singles to Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts. Brett Cecil was summoned to face David Ortiz with the Jays holding a one run lead. But he fell behind 3-0 before eventually giving up a full count single to tie the game and move the runner to third. This hit increased the Red Sox chances to win by 24 percent (.240 WPA). Ortiz had a great game with two hits driving in two runs and individually generating 0.359 WPA for himself. The next batter was Hanley Ramirez and he singled to drive in the eventual winning run.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>In the 8th inning and the Red Sox leading 8-7, Ezequiel Carrera was standing on second base as the tying run. Both Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista had chances to tie the game with a hit, but both of them came up empty. The Donaldson groundout dropped the Jays chances of winning the game by 9.8 percent, and Jose Bautista&#8217;s comebacker reduced them by yet another 9.9 percent.</p>
<h3>Offense Still Whiffing</h3>
<p>The highly touted Toronto offense continues to be in a bit of an early season funk. While they did put up their first <em>big</em> inning of the season in the fourth &#8211; scoring six &#8211; they struggled to generate much offense for the rest of the game. And once again, a big culprit was simply failing to put the ball in play. In the end, they went 4/29 outside of the fourth and registered double digits in strikeouts (ten). An offense that was acknowledged for their patience last season has struck out 56 times in the first five games, and while it&#8217;s still early, this is a situation that will need to reverse itself quickly.</p>
<h3>Marcus Stroman Not at his Best</h3>
<p>After dominating the Rays by pounding the bottom of the zone, Stroman really struggled with his command against Boston. He began the game looking overpowering &#8211; striking out the first two batter and three of the first four &#8211; and had another stretch where he retired seven in a row, but he just couldn&#8217;t find any consistency. His sinker in particular was causing a lot of problems. The ball was moving just as much as last time out, but he left many of them up, and got hit hard. He also tied his career high by walking three batters. He will need to be better next time out.</p>
<h3>Battle of the Bullpens</h3>
<p>The main difference in the game was the performance of the two bullpens. The Jays offense could do no damage at all against a Red Sox quintet of Noe Ramirez, Matt Barnes, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and Craig Kimbrel, who combined for six innings of two-hit ball. On the other hand, the Jays bullpen continues to cough up leads. Chavez, Storen, and Cecil all struggled mightily, and on the whole the bullpen allowed all five inherited runners to score. Gavin Floyd looked strong in his inning, at least.</p>
<h3>A Successful Debut</h3>
<p>There was one other reliever to take the bump in last night&#8217;s game, and it was Rule V pick Joe Biagini pitching in his first major league game. The rooki was summoned to work the ninth to face the heart of the Red Sox lineup &#8211; Bogaerts, Ortiz, and Ramirez &#8211; and preserve a one-run lead. Major league debuts are hard enough as it is, so facing that trio certainly can&#8217;t make things better. However, if he was nervous, he certainly didn’t show it, He used a good, hard fastball to cut through the three hitters including his first major league strikeout, courtesy of David Ortiz. Prior to the game Jays GM Ross Atkins said <a href="https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/718630017807167488" target="_blank">he was fighting for a position</a> on the team. Let&#8217;s just say he probably opened a few eyes.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>Saturday the Jays will play game two of this three game set. Rick Porcello (4.92 ERA, 1.36 WHIP in 2015) makes his first start of the season as he takes on R.A. Dickey. Dickey is looking for a little bit more consistency than last time out. Both managers will be looking for their starters to go deeper in the game to avoid overusing their bullpen for a second straight day. First pitch will be at 1:07 pm EST.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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