Blue Jays 6 Twins 4
It is nice when you can win on a bullpen day. Paxton Schultz was not good in the opener role, but, after that, everyone was good.
Schultz gave up a run in the first on a Trevor Larnach home run. And then two more in the second, on a single and two doubles.
In the third, Eric Lauer came in and he was terrific, going 2.1 scoreless on a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Unfortunately, he threw four innings in our game on Tuesday, so he was limited on how long he would go.
Mason Fluharty came in with one on and one out in the fifth. He got us out of the inning and got the first two out in the sixth. Again, he was limited on pitches, having thrown just yesterday. But he got four outs, two of them strikeouts.
Yariel Rodríguez got the last out of the sixth and pitched a clean seventh.
Brendon Little had some trouble starting the eighth, giving up a walk and a single, but then he got a strikeout on a terrible call by the plate umpire. Ryan Jeffers got tossed out of the game, complaining about the call. I likely would have too. Then he got a swinging strikeout. But Royce Lewis, on a full count, lifted a pitch off the plate for a single to right, bringing in a run. John Schneider left him in to face the lefty Kody Clements. Again, he got to a full count, but Clements grounded one right at Vlad at first.
Jeff Hoffman got the ninth. He got two strikeouts and then gave up a walk, but got another strikeout to get his 14th save. Lauer got the win.
On offense, it took a bit to get the motor started, but we got two runs in the fourth and fifth and one in each in the sixth and eighth.
We finally got to Bailey Ober in the fourth. Vladimir Guerrero was hit by a pitch on the hand, causing a little worry, but the trainer looked at him for a few moments, and he stayed in the game. And Addison Barger crushed a homer to right 385 feet, 105.5 mph—Homer number seven for Addison.
In the fifth, Ernie Clement started it with a single. An out later, Andrés Giménez doubled and Bo Bichette fought off a pitch well below the strike zone for a single, bringing in both runners.
Our run in the sixth was a George Springer home run, 106.8 mph, 435 feet.
In the eighth, Vlad doubled and Kirk singled him home on a full-count pitch.
We had seven hits, including the two homers. No one had more than one hit. Nathan Lukes and Jonatan Clase had 0 fors.
Vlad had a very good day with the glove. He made a stretch catch on a Bichette throw that was a little off-line, a great catch on a line drive, and a ground ball later.
Clase takes the most interesting routes to balls, but he makes the catches.
On the Twins’ side, Matt Wallner made a mess of a fly ball that was just over his head. It should have been an easy catch. I’m not a fan of Springer’s play on balls hit over his head, but he could have caught that one.
Jays of the Day: Fluharty (.135 WPA), Rodriguez (.093), Hoffman (.087), Bo (.130, 1 for 4, 2 RBI, 2 K), Barger (.120, 1 for 4, 2 RBI, home run), Giménez (.121 1 for 3, walk) and Springer (.085, 1 for 4, home run, k).
Other Award: Schultz (-.206) and Clase (.085).
We could skip using an opener for Lauer in the future. Today, I understand him getting an opener since he was limited in how many pitches he could throw.
Tomorrow we have Kevin Gausman (5-4, 3.82) vs. Chris Paddack (2-5, 3.58). It is a 2:00 Eastern start.