The Toronto Blue Jays were looking to start another winning streak after taking the first game in their series against the Athletics, but they’ll have to put that on pause for now. The Jays’ bats could only muster three runs last night against Jacob Lopez and the A’s pitching staff. Kevin Gausman got some unfortunate luck from behind the plate, and four runs were all the other team needed to get the win.
Gausman went five innings and allowed five hits, two walks, and one home run, striking out two on 96 pitches. He generated 11 swings and misses on the day and was sitting at 94 MPH with his fastball. The right-hander was using his four-seamer and his splitter for most of the evening, throwing just two sliders out of the 96 pitches. Gausman wasn’t his sharpest last night and had to throw a few extra pitches tonight because of catcher Tyler Heineman, as the backstop had three errors to his name.
In the bottom of the first, Heineman interfered with a Brent Rooker swing to keep the inning alive, although Gausman got out of it quickly. Heineman then caused a throwing error in the bottom of the third, with Denzel Clarke chopping a ground ball right in front of home plate. Clarke would advance to second base. He then interfered with Nick Kurtz in the bottom of the third inning with one out, and Rooker would double to right field and score Lawrence Butler, tying the game at two. Instead of two potential outs, the errors kept the inning alive and contributed to the A’s scoring two runs.
John Schneider on Tyler Heineman’s game (3E, incl. 2 CI)
“It’s risk-reward. Heinie does a great job of getting some strikes at the bottom of the zone… it was a sequence of bad luck for Heinie. He’s hard on himself. I don’t want him to think it’s on him”https://t.co/w5GyRrwPVZ
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) July 13, 2025
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The bullpen was solid for Gausman, with Justin Bruihl, Chad Green, and the recently recalled Tommy Nance each throwing an inning and allowing zero earned runs while striking out four batters total.
Toronto’s bats were a bit silent today while striking out 13 times, another outing where they hit double-digits in the punchout category. Ernie Clement and B0 Bichette accounted for four of the Jays’ six hits while Myles Straw and Leo Jimenez accounted for the other two. The Blue Jays also walked five times, and that helped in their efforts.
Jimenez got the party started for Toronto in the top of the second, driving an inside cutter for a solo shot over the left field wall to make it 1-0 for Toronto. Clement and Bichette both doubled in the top of the third to tack on another run. They would not score again until the top of the eighth, with Guerrero walking, another Bichette double putting him into scoring position, and Alejandro Kirk bringing him home on a sac fly. The Jays would strand Bichette at second with Jimenez and Addison Barger striking out.
The A’s would bring in flamethrowing closer Mason Miller to close out the ninth. After allowing a leadoff walk to Joey Loperfido and a sac bunt from Nathan Lukes to move Loperfido to second, he would strike out Clement and George Springer to finish the game. Clement was unhappy with the called strikes on the outside of the plate, but per Gameday, they just touched the zone. Toronto left eight runners on base and were 1 for 12 today with runners in scoring position.
Trying to end the first half of the year on a high note, the Blue Jays will turn to Jose Berrios this afternoon to try and secure the win in Sacramento. The A’s will counter with Jeffrey Springs.
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