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Trout: I know you're probably going to (hopefully) be busy with the Raptors & Leafs playoff runs for a while, so I'll try to pick this up in your absence. Regular season begins on Monday down in Birdland, Baltimore, MD. Marco Estrada (9-9, 3.48 last season) will get the ball for the Jays, and he'll be opposed by Kevin Gausman (9-12, 3.61 last year) with a first pitch scheduled for 3:05 PM. Aside from a couple major changes, the 2017 Blue Jays will look the same as the Jays have looked since late July 2015. The biggest change will be adding Kendrys Morales replacing the departed Edwin Encarnacion who signed with Cleveland, luckily they resigned Jose Bautista to a 1 year deal so it's not as bleak for them as it looked in November & December. A couple other minor changes for the Jays: Super ultility man and lefty-crusher Steve Pearce the former Ray & Oriole has signed north of the border. He can play pretty much anywhere on the diamond and absolutely crushes left-handed pitching and according to the ESPN depth chart Jarrod Saltalamaccia was signed to be the backup catcher. Happ, Stroman, Liriano & Sanchez will round out the rest of the Jays rotation and follow Estrada.
Chris Davis single and Mark Trumbo double in the 3rd put the Orioles on top 2-0 early. Jays got a run back in the 5th on a Kendrys Morales bases loaded walk and Zeke Carrera tied the game in the 6th with a double scoring newcomer Steve Pearce. Game remained 2-2 until the 11th when Trumbo ended it with a blast to left field for a walk off home run. Marco Estrada pitched 6 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts with Jason Grilli (0-1) allowing 1 run on 1 hit (Trumbo home run) with 0 walks and 1 strikeout and taking the loss. Kevin Gausman allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts in 5.1. Mychal Givens (1st blown save) allowed 2 hits and had 2 strikeouts in a scoreless 1.2 but allowed the game-tying double to Carrera. Tyler Wilson (1-0) had 1 hit and 1 strikeout in a scoreless 11th inning and picked up the win.
Both teams are off Tuesday, and will resume the quick 2 game series Wednesday. Dylan Bundy (0-0, 4.06 as a reliever last season) starts for the Orioles while J.A. Happ (20-4, 3.18) takes the ball for the Jays looking for the split. Game time at 7:05 PM.
Devin Travis single in the 3rd gave the Jays their first lead of the series, unfortunately it wouldn't last very long as Adam Jones had a 2 run homer in the bottom half, and Chris Davis added a solo homer in the 4th for the final scoring on the evening. Dylan Bundy allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 0 walks and 8 strikeouts in 7 innings. Brad Brach (1st hold) allowed 1 hit and 2 strikeouts in a scoreless 8th while Zach Britton loaded the bases with 2 hits and a walk and a strikeout, but ended the game by getting Pearce to ground into a double play.
Jays head down to sunny Florida to start a 4 game series with the Rays at the Trop. Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37) makes his first start of the Jays, and he'll be opposed by Blake Snell (6-8, 3.54) gets the ball for Tampa who is coming off a series victory of the Yankees, game time start at 7:10. Speaking of the Yankees, they will swap places with the Jays as they will go FROM Tampa TO Baltimore, and after both the O's & Yanks have a bye Thursday they'll open a weekend set at OPACY beginning on Friday evening.
Morales' first home run as a Jay was a grand slam in the 3rd to put the Jays in flight first and Darwin Barney added the Jays final run in the 7th on a sac bunt. Logan Morrison single in the 7th put the Rays on the board and Brad Miller scored the 2nd run on a Jason Grilli wild pitch in the 9th.
Marcus Stroman (1-0) allowed 1 run on 6 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6.1. Joe Biagini (1st hold) had 0 walks, 0 strikeouts and 1 hit allowed in 1.2 innings. Jason Grilli (1st save) faced 2 batters in the 9th and struck them both out for the save. Blake Snell (0-1) allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits (1 homer) in 6.2 innings with 5 walks and 5 strikeouts. Francisco Liriano (8-13, 4.69 last year with the Pirates & Jays) starts for the Jays while the Rays give the ball to Matt Andriese (8-8, 4.37 last year) with game time scheduled for 7:10.
The old saying "it's better to win ugly then lose pretty" certainly applies to the Rays here, and would definitely apply to the Jays had they come back to win. Back and forth affair where 1 team would take the lead and the other team would come back and take the lead and the other team would come back and retake the lead. Troy Tulowitski 2 run double in the 1st put the Jays in front early but that was matched by the Rays with a 5 run first: Evan Longoria, Tulowitski's teammate in college @ Long Beach State tied the game with a 2 run homer of his own, Brad Miller had a 2 run double, and Peter Bourjos added an RBI ground out later in the inning and the Rays would get a 6th run in the 2nd on a Derek Norris sac fly. Jays came back to take a 7-6 lead with a Tulo homer (4th), Bautista sac fly & Justin Smoak double (5th), and back-to-back bases loaded walks to Morales & Tulo (6th). Rays would retake the lead in the bottom half on a Steven Souza double and Logan Morrison single, Josh Donaldson would get the Jays back to within 1 at 9-8 with a homer in the 8th while Norris added the games final run in the bottom of the 8th on an RBI single. Francisco Liriano faced 8 batters and only recorded 1 out (on a strikeout) with 3 hits, 5 walks, and 5 runs and 1 homer. J.P. Howell (0-1, 1st blown save) failed to record an out facing 4 batters and allowing all 4 base runners to reach base: 2 on walks and 2 on hits and 2 of his 4 batters came around to score. Matt Andriese allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits (1 homer) with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Austin Pruitt (1st hold) allowed 2 runs on 1 hit with 2 walks and 1 strikeout in 1/3 of an inning but got a hold while Xavier Cedeno (1-0, 1st blown save) pitched a hitless 2/3 of an inning, but walked 2 batters. Danny Farquhar (1st hold) allowed 1 run on 2 hits (1 homer) with 0 walks and 0 strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Alex Colome (3rd save) had the first stability of the night: a hitless 1.1 with 0 walks and 1 strikeout to lock down the 3rd win of the young season for the Rays.
Game 3 of the 4 game series on Saturday. Aaron Sanchez (15-2, 3.00 last year) starts for the Jays While Chris Archer (1-0, 2.57) will take the ball for the Rays. Game time scheduled for 6:10
It's still early but it's getting late here to quote Yogi. Can't take much off of 1 week's worth of games, but the problem is games in April count just the same as games in September do, if not more because you can bank April wins when you have your midseason struggle. Nobody wins divisions or clinches playoff spots in April, but you can certainly lose divisions or miss out on the playoffs because of April starts, just look as recently as last year with the Yankees & Astros. The Yankees were 8-14 heading into May and 16-22 after play on May 17, but they were within 2.5 or 3.5 games of the Wildcard in the last week of the season. The Astros were in a similar boat: 7-17 heading into May and 17-28 after play on May 22, yet they only finished like a game or 2 out of the playoffs. If those April records for both the Yankees & Astros are even cut in half i.e 10-12 for the Yankees and 11-13 for the Astros who knows how the 2016 playoffs turn out....because 2 teams that weren't there (Yankees & Astros) probably are there. So long story short: You don't need to hit the panic button yet, but you at least have to know where it's located in case you have to press it in a couple weeks. Hopefully going home to Rogers Centre gets them out of this horrible offensive slump they have been in!
Saturday's game they lost 3-2 when Casey Lawrence, pitching in his major league debut walked in the winning run with the bases loaded, and in the process became the first Jays reliever to take a loss in his major league debut, and on Sunday they were completely shut down 7-2 in a feeble effort mustering only 2 hits off of Jays starter Jake Odorizzi and 3 overall.
Jays open up the home portion of the Rogers Centre schedule with their first interleague series of the year as the Milwaukee Brewers come to town for a quick 2 game series Tuesday-Wednesday with both games taking place at 7:07. Wily Peralta (1-0, 0.00) is scheduled to start for the Brewers and he'll be opposed by J.A. Happ (0-1, 3.86) for the Jays, while the pitching matchups for Wednesday are Marcus Stroman (1-0, 1.42) vs. Chase Anderson (0-0, 1.50).
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2017: 0-0
while Xavier Cedeno (1-0, 1st blown save) pitched a hitless 2/3 of an inning, but walked 2 batters. Danny Farquhar (1st hold) allowed 1 run on 2 hits (1 homer) with 0 walks and 0 strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Alex Colome (3rd save) had the first stability of the night: a hitless 1.1 with 0 walks and 1 strikeout to lock down the 3rd win of the young season for the Rays.
