Game #116 Toronto Blue Jays (68-48) @ Colorado Rockies (30-84) - game recap

 

Davis Schneider drove in four runs and scored twice in a 20-1 rout over the Rockies

After another huge win over the Rockies thanks to a 6RBI effort from Daulton Varsho, the Blue Jays were looking to extend the win streak to 3 games and complete their complete their 9th series sweep and 5th season series sweep of the season. Kevin Gausman got the start with Tyler Heineman behind the plate. Vlad got the half day off as DH with Ty France at 1B. Davis Schneider was in LF and Myles Straw was in RF. Ernie Clement was at the hot corner and Buddy Kennedy got the start at 2B. Could the Blue Jays extend the win streak to 3 games and complete their complete their 9th series sweep and 5th season series sweep of the season? Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights:

• The Rockies took the lead in the bottom of the 1st as Ezequiel Tovar doubled scoring Tyler Freeman
• The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the third as Bo Bichette whacked a 3- run blast to the opposite field in right-center; also scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement 
• The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the top of the 5th as Nathan Lukes tripled scoring Ty France and Buddy Kennedy
• A batter later, Tyler Heineman singled home Lukes
• Kyle Freeland pitching line: 4.2IP 7H 6R (all earned) 2BB 4K 76 pitches (55 for strikes)
• The blue jays added a run in the top of the 6th as Davis Schneider belted a solo jack to left
• Four batters later, France doubled scoring Clement
• A batter later, Addison Barger singled scoring Guerrero Jr. and France
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 8th as Guerrero Jr. smacked a solo blast to the opposite field in right and into the Rockies bullpen
• Four batters later, France scored on a ground out hit by Lukes
• Kevin Gausman pitching line: 7IP 3H 1R (earned) 2BB 8K 102 pitches (74 for strikes)
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 8th as Guerrero Jr. doubled scoring Clement
• A batter later, Bichette double scoring Clement
• Two batters later, Bichette scored on a sac fly by Barger
• A batter later, France scored on a sac fly by Lukes
• Three batters later, Davis Schneider hammered a  3-run bomb to dead center; also scoring Heineman and Myles Straw
• A batter later, Clement whacked a solo bomb to left
• Final score: Blue Jays 20 Rockies 1

My Take:

• Kevin Gausman fired 7 strong innings, giving up a run on 3 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 8. Crazy to think that he actually gave up the first run of the ballgame with the way the game ended. He recovered nicely from that rough inning and retired five in a row. Gausman would retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.
• The bullpen threw 2 perfect innings, striking out 3.
• I'm not going to list every player's offensive stats here today. Every Blue Jays batter reached base at least once and all but Buddy Kennedy had a hit. Everyone either scored a run or drove in a run. Only Kennedy and Myles Straw didn't have an RBI
• Pretty crazy to think the Blue Jays were actually trailing this game until Bo Bichette went yard in the top of the 3rd. In fact, the Blue Jays recorded 2 comeback wins in a series where they outscored the Rockies 45-6 and set an MLB record with 63 hits in this 3-game series
• The Rockies are exhibit A for why tanking this badly shouldn't automatically give you the 1st overall pick in the next draft. It's simply not good for any sport to have such a non-competitive team in the league. Not only does it impact the careers of the players since no team will want to give players a shot when they play so poorly, it affects revenue of that team since fans will eventually stop coming to the ballpark or purchasing team swag and the players on that team will stop trying. 
• Which brings me to the use of a position player pitching for the losing team in blowouts. It should not be allowed. There is too much risk of that player hurting themselves because pitching is a lot different than throwing the baseball say back to the infield or to a base to record an out. It would be better to call the game early if a team runs out of pitchers.
• Up next, after an off-day/travel day tomorrow, the Blue Jays open a series in LA against the defending world series champs Dodgers. The Dodgers won the season series last year, outscoring the Blue Jays 17-7. Max Scherzer starts Friday against Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw.

Game #116 Toronto Blue Jays (67-48) @ Colorado Rockies (30-83)

 

Game #115 Toronto Blue Jays (67-48) @ Colorado Rockies (30-83) - game recap

 

Daulton Varsho hit a pair of 2-run HE and drove in 6 runs in a 10-4 comeback win over the Rockies

After a huge 15-1 rout over the Rockies thanks to a pair of home runs and 6RBI from Bo Bichette and a 3-run shot off the bat of Daulton Varsho, the Blue Jays were trying to extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 20th series win and 13th season series win of the season. Buddy Kennedy was selected to the MLB roster. Ali Sanchez was DFA'd. Ace Jose Berrios got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Bo Bichette was back in the field after DH'ing yesterday (Ty France served as DH tonight). Ernie Clement got the start at 2B. Could the Blue Jays make it 2 straight wins, 20 series wins and 13 season series wins? Here is tonight's game recap.

Game Highlights:

• The Rockies opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd as zhunter Goodman belted a solo jack to left; also scoring Ezequiel Tovar
• The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 3rd as Nathan Lukes whacked a solo blast to right-center and into the Rockies bullpen
• The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 4th as Daulton Varsho drilled a 2-run blast to right; also scoring Alejandro Kirk
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 6th as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. whacked a solo blast to the opposite field in right
• Two batters, Varsho hammered a 2-run bomb to right; also scoring Kirk
• Anthony Molina pitching line: 5IP 9H 7R (all earned) 1BB 2K 83 pitches (64 for strikes)
• Two batters later, Joey Loperfido was forced out the game after getting hit in the right knee by a pitch
• The Rockies got one back in the bottom half of the inning as Mickey Moniak singth seruesled scoring Goodman. Varsho was charged with a fielding error on the play
• A batter later Warming Bernabel singled scouting Jordan Beck
• Jose Berrios pitching line: 5.2IP 7H 4R (3 earned) 1BB 5K 81 pitches (54 for strikes)
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 9th as Guerrero Jr. doubled scoring Lukes
• Three batters later, Varsho doubled scoring Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette
• Final score: Blue Jays 10 Rockies 4

My Take:

• Jose Berrios battled through 5.2 innings,  giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 his whole walking 1 and striking out 5. He helped himself out by picking of a baserunner at 2B. The defense behind him booted a few balls. Would have been nice to see him get through the 6th inning, but the lead had dwindled to three runs when he was removed from the game. 
• The bullpen gave up 2 hits while walking 2 and striking out 2 over the last 3.2 innings. Yariel Rodriguez owes Nathan Lukes a dinner for gunning down a base runner at 2B. Tommy Nance retired every batter he faced. The one nice thing about pitching with a bigger lead is you don't need your high-leverage guys to finish thr game. The Blue Jays will be needing them against the Dodgers and Cubs.
• Daulton Varsho (two 2-run HR, 6RBI overall), Vlad (solo HR, 2RBI), Nathan Lukes (solo HR) and Addison Barger (solo HR) led the way offensively
• The Blue Jays were 2-9 with runners in scoring position,
• Up next, the Blue Jays try to extend the win streak to 3 games and complete their 9th series sweep and 5th season series sweep. Kevin Gausman starts against Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland

Game #115 Toronto Blue Jays (66-48) @ Colorado Rockies (30-82)

 

Game #114 Toronto Blue Jays (66-48) @ Colorado Rockies (30-82) - game recap

 

Bo Bichette homered twice and drove in 6 runs in a 15-1 rout over the Rockies

After an ugly extra innings loss caused by the bullpen imploding, the Blue Jays hit the road, starting in Colorado tonight. The Blue Jays won the season series last year, but the Rockies outscored the Blue Jays 15-14. Eric Lauer got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Chad Green cleared waivers and was released. Eric Lauer got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Bo Bichette got the half day off as DH with Ernie Clement at SS. Davis Schneider got the start at 2B. Joey Loperfido was in LF and Nathan Lukes was in RF. Could the Blue Jays start the week and road trip with a win? Here is tonight's game recap. 

Game Highlights:

• The Blue jays opened the scoring in the top of the 1st as Bo Bichette singled scoring Nathan Lukes
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 2nd as Davis Schneider singled scoring Ernie Clement 
• The Blue Jays added three runs in the top of the 3rd as Daulton Varsho drilled a 3--run blast to the second deck in right-center; also scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger
• Two batters later,  Joey Loperfido singled scoring Clement
• A batter later, Schneider doubled scoring Loperfido. Schneider was thrown out at 3rd trying to stretch the double into a triple
• Two batters later, Bichette whacked a 2-run blast to left; also scoring Lukes
• Tanner Gordon pitching line: 2.2IP 11H 7R (all earned) 0BB 1K 67 pitches (42 for strikes)
• The Rockies got one back in the bottom of the 5th as Ezequiel Tovar singled scoring Tyler Freeman
• The Blue jays added a run in the top of the 7th as Lukes singled scoring Clement
• A batter later, Bichette hammered a 3-run bomb to dead center; also scoring Lukes and Loperfido 
• Four batters later, Varsho singled scoring Barger
• Eric Lauer pitching line: 6IP 7H 1R (earned) 1BB 4K 97 pitches (64 for strikes)
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 9th on a ground-rule double by Clement that scored Ty France
• Final score: Blue Jays 15 Rockies 1

My Take:

• Eric Lauer pitched 6 strong innings,  giving up a run on 7 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. He got a huge play from his battery mate Alejandro Kirk, who gunned down a runner at 1B. Lauer then proceeded to strike out the batter he was facing to get out of the inning.  Lauer had to endure long waits between the innings due to some big innings by the Blue Jays offense and that may have affected his momentum a bit. Nevertheless, Lauer didn't need to be perfect today. At this point, there's no way you can take Lauer out of the rotation when Shane Bieber and Alek Manoah are ready to return from their Tommy John surgeries. Likely,  the Blue Jays will go to a 6-man rotation nd use Manoah as a long man out of the bullpen.
• The bullpen gave a hit and a walk over the last 2 innings. Brayden Fisher struck out the side and Mason Fluharty pitched the last two innings and made it look easy in the 9th. Fisher may be on a playoff roster, but Fluharty may not be.
• The bats absolutely came alive with the team ready to punish whoever dared pitch to them after a tough stretch. Bo Bichette homered twice (driving in 6 runs), Daulton Varsho launched a 3-run blast (driving in 4 total). Heck, even Davis Schneider drove in a pair.
• Every single Blue Jay except Tyler Heineman reached base. Every starter either drove in a run or scored a run.
• The Blue Jays were 8-15 with runners in scoring position\
• Up next, the Blue Jays go for 2 straight wins, 20 series wins and 13 season series wins on the season. Ace Jose Berrios starts against Rockies righty Anthony Molina.