Jays 0 Rangers 2
I don’t know. I should just have a form and fill in the blanks.
Great start tonight by __________ Bowden Francis.
Jays had _____ 4 hits and ____6 walks.
Jays were 0 for _____10 with RISP.
Jays left ____ 11 on base.
There were several well-hit balls with RISP, and they all found gloves.
Anyway….Francis went five shutout innings, allowed three hits, one walk with six strikeouts. He was terrific. I hope that means he’s figured out what’s been going wrong in the last few starts.
Yariel Rodríguez threw two more shutout innings, with one hit and one strikeout.
Chad Green, on the other hand, gave up two runs in the eighth (one earned, one unearned because of a throwing error by Alejandro Kirk on a pickoff attempt).
Times we, all together now, SHOULD HAVE SCORED:
- First inning: Bo leads off with a double, goes to third on a Vlad fly ball (.770 expected batting average). But Varsho struck out and Kirk ground out.
- Second inning: Springer leads off with a double. Santander walks. But Barger (flyout), Clement (strikeout), and Stefanic (pop out) couldn’t score them
- Fourth inning: Springer walks with one out. Santander and Barger strike out
- Fifth inning: Clement leads off with a single. Stefanic and Bo strikeout. Vlad walks. Varsho pops out.
- Sixth: Kirk leads off with a single. Springer, Santander and Barger flyout.
- Seventh: Stefanic and Bo take one out for a walk. Vlad flies out (.550 expected batting average) and Varsho (flies out).
- Eight: Springer gets hit by pitch with one out. Bargers gets intentionally walked with two out. No runs.
I don’t know, but they have been tough to watch lately. Not that the Rangers would have been all that easy to watch if you were a fan.
I don’t even know what they should do. I don’t think the sum of the parts should be as bad as this. There are some good players, but they just aren’t playing well. And when they do hit the ball well, it ends up being caught.
If we added up ‘Expected Batting Average’ on balls hit by the Jays, it would far beat out what the Rangers would have had. But, for some reason, they decided who wins by runs scored.
It is worth noting that Barger had an interesting play in the seventh. With a runner on second (Alejandro Osuna), Adolis Garcia grounded one to Barger at third. He booted it, but when he picked it up, he saw Osuna rounded third and beat Osuna back to the bag for the third out of the inning.
Jays of the Day: Francis (.226 WPA), Rodríguez (.212), and Springer (.121 for a 1 for 2 with a walk).
Other Award: Green (-.323), Varsho (-.201, 0 for 4), Clement (-.127, 1 for 4, k), Barger (-.106, 0 for 3, walk, k), Santander (-.102, 0 for 3, walk, k), and Vlad (-.090, 0 for 4, walk, k).
Tomorrow, we have game three of this series of inept offenses: Tyler Mahle (5-2, 1.80) vs. likely Eric Lauer (1-1, 3.31).
On the non-depressing side, the Oilers won.