Blue Jays 1 Astros 5
Once again, we came out of the game with just two hits: an Ernie Clement single and a Nathan Lukes home run. We also had two walks.
Vlad, in particular, had a rough night, going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. But then 7 guys went 0 for.
And the Astros got all the runs they needed in the first inning. It started with a ground ball that went off Will Wagner’s glove, and then Andrés Giménez grabbed it. Wagner ran back to first, and Chris Bassitt also ran to first. Giménez, understandably, was confused as to which to throw to, and kind of threw it between them. Wagner should have stayed out of it after it went off his glove.
Then a fly ball single landed just in front of Alan Roden. I thought he should have gotten under it. After a lineout, Jeremy Peña bounced one slowly up the third base line. Ernie Clement came in for it, but didn’t have a play. He threw to first, but it wasn’t close. I thought he should have gone home, but, watching the replay, I saw he didn’t have a play there. 1-0. Christian Walker bounced a ground ball up the middle. It looked like Giménez had a play on it, but it hit the bag at second and bounced away. A fluke and all, but it was 2-0. Brendon Rodgers hit a sac fly, and the Astros had more runs than the Jays had hits.
The Astros got another run in the sixth on a single, balk, walk and Yainer Diaz double.
Bassitt went 5.1 innings, giving up 7 hits, 4 earned (a little help from his defense would have saved him some of those runs), 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.
Brandon Little finished the sixth. Yariel Rodríguez gave up a run on three hits in the seventh. Mason Fluharty got three strikeouts in the eighth.
I don’t understand the lack of ability to hit. Last year, we blamed the hitting coaches for the hitting troubles. New hitting coach, same hitting issues.
One through seven in the order went 0 for 23 with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. Normally I can find some at bats with hard contact and convince myself it isn’t all that bad. But, other than Luke’s home run (102.5 mph) and a Vlad ground out (99.9 mph), there wasn’t much hit hard.
No Jays of the Day.
The Other Award: Bassitt (-.214, but not really his fault). and let’s give one to the entire batting lineup, minus Lukes.
Tomorrow we have the third game of the series in Houston. Bowden Francis (2-2, 3.13) vs. Ryan Gusto (2-1, 3.18).
If they only get two hits tomorrow, I’ll… I don’t have an end to that threat. I guess I’ll watch them again on Friday.