Game Recap: Blue Jays (Bisons) Improve But Lose Again

It was another very odd game at Camden Yards today. The Blue Jays put out their same AAA lineup from game 2 yesterday. The game time had been moved to 12:05 PM to avoid inclement weather but of course, the time change actually made it worse. The rain started falling in earnest shortly after the game began. It was just another one of those “typical” post-clinch games.

The Blue Jays had two walks and a double in the first inning but couldn’t put a run across the plate. Dalton Pompey was caught stealing for the first time this year.

“Starter” Drew Hutchison had a rough outing (surprise surprise) allowing 3 earned runs and 5 walks/hits in his one inning of work. To be fair, he was pitching in terrible conditions and the long rain delay meant he wouldn’t have the chance to salvage his outing somewhat.

The groundskeepers tried in vain to spread some sort of drying substance on the diamond and finally the tarp went out after the first inning. It looked as if the game would be called and rescheduled (or not played) but the game eventually got under way again at about 4 pm.

Jeff Francis picked things off for the Jays in the 2nd inning. He allowed an earned run in the 2nd after two walks, a wild pitch and a single. He threw 1.2 innings afterwards. Bo Schultz finished up the 4th inning and completed the 5th but gave up a run. Chad Jenkins earned a run in the 6th and got two outs in the 7th. Aaron Loup was brought in against a lefty but hit him. Ryan Tepera got the third out. Aaron Sanchez threw a nice clean 1-2-3 8th inning.

T.J McFarland took over for the starter Wilson when the game resumed. He had a clean 2nd and 3rd inning but the Jays picked up a run in the 4th inning courtesy of a Munenori Kawasaki RBI groundout. Givens struck out the side in the 6th. In the 7th, Brad Brach gave up a walk, single and a double which scored Kawasaki. Matusz was brought in to finish off the inning but allowed a 2-run ground rule double to Ezequiel Carrera. O’Day got Colabello to ground out for the last out of the inning. O’Day worked around a hit batter to get out of the 8th inning with no damage. Britton also hit a batter but got the next three Blue Jays to put a merciful end to the game.

This one was quite a snoozer. Thankfully we won’t have to endure much more low quality baseball until the playoffs start. There’s a good reason why the guys who played these last two awful games for the Jays are backups—this was not a major league team. Back to real (more or less) baseball tomorrow. Unless it rains again. Which it definitely could.

Game Notes:

– The rain delay lasted almost 3.5 hours

– Announced attendance was 18, 257 but actual attendance was more around 100

– The game lasted about 6 hours and 45 minutes with the rain delay

MVJ: Dalton Pompey

Next: This Pennant Matters

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