Rays 11 Blue Jays 9
Up by one in the ninth, I thought we had the game. But Jeff Hoffman had an awful inning.
It started off well. He struck out the first batter. Then Travis Jankowski walked. Danny Jansen, whom I used to like, had a hit-and-run single, moving the tying run to third. Chandler Simpson singled, and the game was tied. Another single loaded the bases, and then Junior Caminero hit a grand slam. We were down by four.
Brandon Fisher came in to get the last two outs of the inning.
The offense didn’t give up, down four in the bottom of the ninth, and Rays closer Pete Fairbanks in. Myles Straw had a one-out double. Bo followed with another double. And Vlad hit the third double of the inning, making it an 11-9 game with the tying run at the plate.
Santander had a seven-pitch at bat, pulling the ball hard twice foul, but finally striking out.
Springer walked (becoming the tying run), bringing Varsho up, who had two home runs on the night. The Rays replaced their closer with Mason Montgomery. He got Varsho to fly out to end the game.
We were down by two in the eighth and then:
- Bo popped out.
- Vlad walked on five pitches, bringing the tying run to the plate.
- Santander flew to fairly deep right.
- Springer walked, on four pitches, none of them near the zone.
- Varsho hit one a mile to the right (well, 404 feet), giving us our first lead of the game.
- Clement followed with a double, but Barger struck out.
Before that, the Jays scored:
- Two in the third: Tyler Heineman led off with a double. An out later, Bo homered just over the center field wall (they reviewed it).
- One in the fourth: Varsho hit his first home run of the game.
- One in the seventh: Clement hit a home run.
Jose Berrios didn’t have a good day.
He gave up four runs in the third. Jansen was hit by pitch (we’ve seen that often enough, but nothing was broken this time). Simpson doubled. Brandon Lowe singled, scoring two. An out later, Jonathan Aranda homered. 4-0 Rays.
One more scored in the sixth. A single and, an out later, a walk and that was Berrios’ night. The run would score a strange way. on a first pitch strike, Heineman throw to first. The runner was well off the bag and got in a rundown. Vlad threw to Clement at second, but when Clement threw back to first, Vlad dropped the throw. The runner was called out for leaving the base path, but the runner from third scored—error on Vlad.
Berrios went 5.1, allowing 5 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the sixth and then the first two outs of the seventh, but he gave up a home run to Danny Jansen in that sixth inning. That was his first hit allowed by a right-handed batter.
Chad Green came in and got the last out of the seventh and pitched a clean eighth.
And then Hoffman came in for the ninth.
As well as the two home runs, Varsho made a terrific catch in center.
Jays of the Day: Varsho (.700 WPA) and Bo (.116).
Other Award: Hoffman (-.828 for the blown save), Berrios (-.203), Fluharty (-.109), Santander (-.118) and Barger (-.111).
We can’t blame the offense for that one. 9 runs, 10 hits, 4 home runs. We had two hits each from Bo, Varsho, Clement and Heineman. Going hitless: Santander (0 for 4, walk), Springer (0 for 3, 2 walks), Barger (0 for 4), and Lukes (0 for 2).
Tomorrow we have Ryan Pepiot (2-4, 3.86) vs. Chris Bassitt (3-2, 3.35).