Jays Beat Pirates

Pirates 3 Blue Jays 5

The big news is that Vlad made two plays at third base. One was fairly routine but a very good throw, and for the other, he moved to his left, spun, and threw to first, right on target. Good job on the second one; Bo could have gotten to it, too, but Vlad was moving towards first and had the easier play.

Very good job, Vlad.

And we had a good day with the bats. 11 hits. Everyone in the order had at least one hit, except Bo, who had a rough time at the plate, 0 for 4, 2 strikeouts (we only had 4 strikeouts on the day), doing a lot of chasing, and Justin Turner, 0 for 4 with a lot of soft contact (88.7 mph on his hardest contact, 70 on his weakest).

We had two hits from Schneider, Jansen, Vogelbach and Varsho (a double and a bunt single, plus a walk). Varsho was also called out stealing on a very close play. The Jays challenged, I thought he was safe, but New York disagreed.

We scored:

• One in the third: After the Pirates opened the scoring in the top of the inning, we tied it. Varsho doubled, moved to third on an IKF fly out and scored on a wild pitch.
• Three in the fifth: The Pirates went up 3-1 in the top of the inning. IFK singled. Schneider singled him to third. Vlad drove in one with another single. Vogelbach doubled in two.
• One in the sixth: Varsho reached on a bunt single. A wild pick-off throw by pitcher Hunter Stratton moved Varsho to third. A Schneider double scored the run.

Chris Bassitt wasn’t great. He gave up 8 hits and a walk in 5 innings. He seemed to bear down when he had runners on but still gave up 3 earned. He did have 7 strikeouts.

Chad Green pitched the sixth, starting the inning with 2 walks but getting out of the inning with 2 strikeouts. He was in early to face the top of the Pirates lineup.

Trevor Richards pitched a quick seventh.

Nate Pearson gave up a single in the eighth and had a strikeout.

Yimi Garcia scared us, giving up a run on a pair of singles, but struck out the side, including a strikeout with the tying run on base.

Jays of the Day: Vogelbach (.288 WPA), Schneider (.195), and Varsho (.099). Let’ give honourable mention to relievers Pearson (.073), Richards (.069) and Richard (.069). Oh, and Yimi, too (-.006), but got the save. His third of the season.

Other Award: B0 (-.158, I don’t know what’s going on), Bassitt (-.130) and Turner (-.090, I thought his at bats looked better but he was still 0 for).

So we are two games back of .500 again.

Tomorrow we get the first of four games against the Orioles. Kevin Gausman (4-3, 4.14) vs. Grayson Rodriguez (5-2, 3.53)