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Bo Bichette drove in a run in a losing effort as the Pirates came from behind to defeat the Blue Jays 5-2 |
After a toigh loss yesterday due to a bad day for the pitchers, the Blue Jays opened a week long road trip in Pittsburgh, The Blue Jays won the season series against the Pirates last year, but the Pirates outscored the Blue Jays 15-11. Kevin Gausman got the start with Tyler Heineman behind the plate. The rest of the lineup was the same as last night. Could the Blue Jays start the week and road trip with a win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Pirates opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd as Alexander Canario singled scoring Nick Gonzales
- The Blue Jays tied it in the top of the 3rd on a ground out by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that scored George Springer
- A batter later, Bo Bichette singled scoring Addison Barger
- The Pirates tied it in the bottom half of the inning on a fielder's choice hit by Bryan Reynolds that scored Spencer Horwitz
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was removed from the game in the top of the 5th after injuring his hamstring doing the splits on a play at 1st base defensively
- Kevin Gausman pitching line: 5IP 5H 2R (both earned) 2BB 4K 96 pitches (61 for31¹, strikes)
- Paul Skenes pitching line: 6IP 5H 2R (both earned) 1BB 8K 96 pitches (65 for strikes)
- John Schneider was ejected in the top of the 7th for arguing balls and strikes when Davis Schneider lost it on aa callred 3rd strike
- The Pirates took the lead in the bottom on the 7th on a wild pitch by Brandon Little that scored Henry Davis
- The Pirates added a run in the bottom of the 8th on a stolen base by Canario that scored Jared Triolo. Tyler Heineman was charged with a throwing error on the play.
- A batter later, Canario scored on a sac fly by Davis
- Dennis Santana pitched a scoreless 9th for his 8th save of the season
- Final score: Pirates 5 Blue Jays 2
My Take:
- Kevin Gausman battled through 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. The Blue Jays certainly have interesting decisions to make when they add Shane Bieber to the roster. I can still see the Blue Jays either putting Jose Berrios on the IL, who is clearly dealing with something with his velocity way down yesterday, or going to a six-man rotation for a few turns to give the starters an extra day off. Gausman struggled to locate his pitches which drove his pitch count up. He'll get a start in the post season.
- The bullpen gave up 3 runs on a hit, 4 walks, a wild pitch and 2 bad throws while striking out 4 over the last 3 innings. The Blue Jays needed 3 pitchers to get three outs in the 7th inning, not ideal. It should be noted 2 runs were unearned and directly the fault of Heineman who made 2 bad throws in the 8th to put the game out of reach. None of the relievers was able to retire every batter faced.
- As mentioned above, it was a rough night for Heineman behind the plate. The Pirates stole bases on him three times, he was charged with a throwing error and he couldn't control a wild pitch by Brandon Little. At the plate, he was 0-3 and struck out once. Heineman has been having a solid season and should get a nice raise in arbitration in the off-season
- There has to be concern for Vlad, but now would be a good time to give him a day or two off with a decent lead in the AL East. Even a short 10-game IL stint would be ok. The important thing is to have Vlad healthy for the playoffs.
- Offensively, Vlad and Bo Bichette drove in the 2 Blue Jays runs
- The Blue Jays were 1-4 with runners in scoring position
- With the loss, the idle Red Sox and Yankees both gained a game on the Blue Jays (both teams are 5 games back of the Blue Jays for 1st in the AL East) and the Tigers overtook the Blue Jays for best AL record and home field advantage through at least the ALCS. The Blue Jays would still get a bye to the divisional round if the playoffs started tomorrow, but the Astros, who lead the AL West, are just 4 games back of the Blue Jays. That series against the Astros in Toronto September 9-11 is looking pretty big at the moment.
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to snap the 2-game skid, even the series and avoid their 16th series loss and 5th season series loss of the season. Max Scherzer starts against Pirates righty Mitch Keller