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Blue Jays get shutout by Rangers, 4-0

By Keith White

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Saturday afternoon the Blue Jays had another youngster debut for them. After purchasing his contract friday it was almost in stone. Today Matt Boyd made the start after an impressive resume at AAA. The Texas Rangers sent out 6-6 right hander Yovani Gallardo.

The game started out pretty well for Matt Boyd. He picked up two straight strike outs to start the game. Prince Fielder ended that streak with a two out single to left field. Adrian Beltre grounded out to end the inning. The first clean inning in the books for Matt Boyd.

Jose Bautista drew a two out walk in the bottom of the first inning. Edwin Encarnacion hit a scorning ball to short but it was reeled in and tossed to 2nd for the 3rd out of the inning.

With one out in the top of the 2nd inning Elvis Andrus put down a perfect bunt to 1st base for an infield single. Joey Gallo slapped a single to right field and Andrus advanced to 3rd base. Rougned Odor hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Andrus from 3rd base. Robinson Chirinos flied out to right field to end the inning.

In the top of the 3rd Prince Fielder once again reached base on two outs. He hit a single to center field. Matt Boyd ended the inning with a strike out of Andrian Beltre.

In the top of the 4th Mitch Moreland hit a solo home run to lead off the inning. Matt Boyd was able to retire the next three batters he faced.

Edwin Encarnacion made good contact once again, but this time over the head of the short stop, for the first hit of the game in the bottom of the 4th. With two out and a man on first base Dioner Navarro struck out swinging.

In the top of the 5th Robinson Chirinos hit a lead off solo home run to make it a 3-0 game. Once again after the solo home run Matt Boyd retired the next three batters.

Top of the 6th Andrian Beltre hit a lead off single to right field. Mitch Moreland reached on a fielders choice. Luckily on the play Devon Travis caught the wild throw by Matt Boyd to still record an out. Elvis Andrus flew out to center and Joey Gallo ground out to 1st to end the inning.

Common trend here, Rougned Odor hit a lead off solo home run to lead off the top of the 7th inning. Leonys Martin hit a two out infield single straight up center. Jose Reyes tracked it but ate the ball instead of making a play to first base. That marked the end of the afternoon for Matt Boyd. Todd Redman came in to pitch to Price Fielder. Todd only needed a single pitch to get out of the inning.

Todd Redman gave up a lead off single in the 8th inning. He escaped any trouble by retiring the next three batters he faced.

In the bottom of the 8th Russell Martin led off with a walk. Chris Colabello hit into a double play to erase the rare base runner. Kevin Pillar singled with two outs but Devon Travis ground out to end the inning.

Top of the 9th Rougned Odor hit a lead off single. Robinson Chirinos struck out and ended the day for Redman. Aaron Loup came in to pitch again Shin-soo Choo. Odor was caught on a pick off play but Edwin Encarnacion threw the ball away allowing Odor to advance to 3rd base. Choo struck out for the 2nd out of the inning. Leonys Martín struck out to end the inning.

Josh Donaldson picked up a one out single in the bottom of the 9th. That was the end of the day for Yovani Gallardo. Shawn Tolleson came in to pitch against Jose Bautista with a runner on base. Jose hit into a double play to end the game.

Game Notes:

  • Matt Boyd had a solid debut. He did give up 4 earned runs but was able to go 6.2 innings almost earning a quality start. If only one of the solo home runs didn’t happen. But, they did so he got chased out in the 7th inning.
  • The Blue Jays bats fell silent, not much to talk about with this game aside from Matt Boyd’s debut.
  • So, lets talk about the Rangers. Prince Fielder picked up his 4th straight multi-hit game and extended his hit streak to 6 games.
  • Yovani Gallardo pitched his 3rd straight shutout going 8.1 innings today and 20.1 innings over the last 3 games. Spanning a little into his last 4 starts he has gone 23.1 straight shutout innings. Over that span he has lowered his ERA from 3.45 to 2.72.
  • On a bit of a side note, today’s game was only 2 hours and 27 minutes. Not sure what the fastest game of the year is but this one felt like it could contend. Both pitchers were working quickly and kept the game rolling.

Grades:

Edwin Encarnacion. OFFENSE . F. It took awhile before the Jays could even pick up a hit. They lacked base runners in general with only 5 total between 3 hits and 2 walks. Kevin Pillar and Josh Donaldson picked up a singles but the only one to make real contact all day was Edwin Encarnacion. Sadly for Edwin a couple of his hits went straight to fielders. I have to grade the offense an F after getting shutout. . Game Ball

C. Matt Boyd had a decent debut for the Blue Jays. He did have some mistakes. He lost control a couple times going across the plate from where his target was set. But, the big mistakes came on some breaking balls that went yard. The Rangers were able to blast out 3 solo home runs. Aside from that his curveball was mostly on point. Matt picked up some really nice strikeouts with it and his slider. He was also able to jack up his fastball to 93 mph. He was working with a small strike zone but still made it work. The final line was 6.2 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, and 7 K. . . Matt Boyd. STARTING PITCHER

The bullpen did very well today. Both Todd Redman and Aaron Loup pitched fairly well. They kept the game rolling and shut the door. Sadly neither of them could vulture a win as the offense was silent all day. They had a combined line of 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, and 5 K.. Game Ball. Todd Redman. BULLPEN . A

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