Well, the good vibes couldn’t continue forever. This was a pretty comprehensive beating. Kevin Gausman was bad, as was the bullpen, but it doesn’t really matter when you get shut out without even managing an extra base hit.
The offence could do nothing with Ranger Suarez. They scattered four hits, all ground balls, and a walk without ever really threatening to score. Davis Schneider’s walk with two outs in the seventh to push Ernie Clement to second marked the first time a Blue Jay reached scoring position. They failed to cash in.
Kevin Gausman had his good stuff today, but his command deserted him. He worked around a walk and a line single in the first, but it cost him 26 pitches to do so. He wasn’t as lucky in the second. He got ahead of JT Realmuto but couldn’t close him out and ended up giving up another walk. One batter later Otto Kemp lined a double into the right field corner to put men on second and third. Brandon Marsh followed with another doubly on a fly ball off the centre field wall. Realmuto scored but a great relay throw by Bo Bichette got Kemp at the plate. Trea Turner reached on Gausman’s third walk of the game, which set the table for Kyle Schwarber to launch a three run homer to dead centre field. That put Toronto in a 4-0 hole.
He walked the lead off hitter in the third but rebounded from there, retiring the next nine Phillies including striking out the side in the fifth. The damage was largely done, but it was impressive work to pull it together after such a rough start and at least get deep enough to preserve the bullpen and keep the game within striking distance.
Mason Fluharty took over in the sixth. He gave up an insurance run on a trio of singles.
Braydon Fisher looked great in the seventh, retiring the Phillies in order with a pair of Ks.
Finally facing the Phillies bullpen in the eighth, the Jays managed a pair of walks off Joe Ross but couldn’t do anything with them. In the bottom half, Erik Swanson gave up Philadelphia’s sixth run on a pair of doubles by Max Kepler and Realmuto. A walk, a ground out and a sac fly brought Realmuto home to make it 7-0, and a Turner single made the deficit eight.
Facing Taijian Walker in the ninth, Addison Barger managed a ground ball single.
Jays of the Day: nobody
Less So: Gausman (-0.220), Springer (-0.098)
Game two goes tomorrow at 4:05pm ET. Bowden Francis (2-8, 6.12) will look to recover even a scrap of form after a brutal couple of starts. Meanwhile, the offence will have a tough assignment against Cristopher Sanchez (5-2, 3.10).