Game Recap: Blue Jays Fade to Gray

The Blue Jays had emerged strongly from the All-Star break. They were 3-1 post break coming into tonight’s game and back to one game above .500. The Blue Jays however, were facing a very tough test in Sonny Gray. It looked as though the Jays would need to scrape out a few runs and then rely on Felix Doubront and “Bosuna” to shut down the Athletics’ bats. That’s not quite the way things panned out.

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Sonny Gray got through the first two innings without harm but the Jays found a chink in the armour during the 3rd. Devon Travis, Jose Reyes, Josh Donaldson combined for the first run with a walk, single and single respectively. Jose Bautista nearly hit a home run in the next at bat but flied out to the warning track. At the end of the third, the Jays had made Gray throw 54 pitches.

The Jays loaded the bases on three singles in the 4th but Devon Travis lined out into an unlucky double play. The next two innings, Gray regained his form and silenced the Jays bats. In the 7th, Danny Valencia led the inning off with a home run.

Mujica came in to face the Jays in the 8th and stranded a runner at second.

Tyler Clippard was all over the map and loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth. The Jays could only manage one run in spite of Clippard’s immense struggles—a huge missed opportunity. But they got the crucial tying run. Fernando Rodriguez sat the Jays down quickly in the 10th.

Felix Doubront allowed 4 baserunners through the first 3 innings but didn’t let any score. The A’s tied it up in the 4th on an error and an RBI single. Things got out of hand in the 5th with a single, a stolen base, another single, a double, a walk and a sac fly. That resulted in 2 more runs and ended Doubront’s night.

Liam Hendricks took over from there and got a big assist from Devon Travis with a leaping snag to end the inning. Hendricks threw the next inning as well with no damage. Aaron Loup and Bo Schultz took care of the 7th. Brett Cecil threw a clean 8th. Cecil and Roberto Osuna combined to keep the A’s off the board in the 9th.

In the 10th Roberto Osuna allowed a double. The runner advanced the 3rd on a sac fly and scored on an infield single. The play was reviewed and was upheld.

Yet another loss that should have been a win. Some how, some way, they must eke these low scoring and close games. It’s slowly killing them.

Game Notes:

• The Blue Jays and the Athletics are the two unluckiest teams per pythagorean W-L vs actual W-L. The Athletics are -10 and the Blue Jays -8
• Chris Colabello was robbed of extra bases with an amazing catch by Smolinski
• Bob Melvin was tossed in a very odd situation. His batter had just stolen 2nd but Melvin argued the strike call on the play
• The Jays had two throwing errors and missed Justin Smoak‘s scooping ability.
• Dioner Navarro threw a runner out in a crucial spot in the 9th.

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