Bo Bichette’s return to Toronto gave the night an extra jolt, and the crowd let him know it. He looked moved by the ovation, even if the scoreline stayed tight the whole way.
Toronto needed a clean start badly after a run of games where the Blue Jays were digging out of early holes, and Trey Yesavage delivered exactly that. He worked 6.2 innings and gave up just three hits, one earned run on Francisco Lindor’s home run, with no walks and three strikeouts. The defense helped him out, too, with strong outfield catches from Nathan Lukes and Myles Straw.
Yesavage’s night ended with a little more stress than the line might suggest. With a runner on first and two outs, Brandon Valenzuela fired a perfect throw to second to catch Luis Urías stealing, turning the final out into a clean handoff to Mason Fluharty for the easiest third of an inning he has likely thrown.
The bullpen had to sweat a bit after that. Tyler Rogers handled the eighth and allowed a one-out double, which brought Juan Soto to the plate as the tying run stood at second.
Toronto chose to walk Soto and face Bichette instead. Since Soto hits left-handed and Rogers is much tougher on right-handed bats, the move made sense, though it still came with plenty of tension attached.
Bichette, though, rolled the first pitch right back to Rogers.
Louis Varland took over in the ninth with a one-run lead and closed it out for save No. 17, but not without some drama. Lindor smoked a liner to left that Straw caught.
Jared Young then sent a grounder up the middle that Ernie Clement ranged far to get to, though he had some trouble getting it out of his glove, and that became a single. A.J.
Ewing worked a six-pitch walk, putting the tying run on second. Mark Vientos, after unsuccessfully challenging a strike call, struck out.
Ronny Mauricio then went down swinging, leaving Varland with the final out and 23 pitches on the night. He probably won’t pitch tomorrow.
Toronto’s offense didn’t do much, but it did enough. George Springer set the tone right away, lining a ball to left that Soto only sort of tried to catch before it bounced in front of him and skipped past.
Ewing, backing up the play in center, booted it, and Springer wound up with a “triple” plus an error. You could just as easily call it a double and a two-base error.
Either way, the Jays had an early lead, which has not exactly been their recent habit.
They added another run in the fifth. Urías, looking like he was sitting on a sinker, doubled off the wall. Yohendrick Piñango moved him over with a groundout, and Straw followed with a sacrifice fly after popping one up near the plate that no Met could get to.
Toronto had one more chance to extend the lead in the eighth. Lukes walked, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled, and the inning had some promise before Kazuma Okamoto struck out, Clement flied out, and Valenzuela fanned.
The Jays finished with only four hits: one each from Springer, Guerrero, Clement and Urías. Guerrero also had a 107.1 mph lineout with an .860 expected batting average, along with a 111.1 mph groundout that carried a .590 expected batting average. That at least looked like a sign worth noticing.
Bichette finished 0 for 4, which, as the game went, seemed fitting enough. Toronto will happily take that for two more days. No one won the Other Award.
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Blue Jays Just Reached A Point Fans Have Been Dreading
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Runs have been hard to come by, especially with men in scoring position, and that has turned even winnable nights at the ballpark into frustration. With fewer than 80 games left, the pressure is not just about stopping the skid, it is about forcing the front office to decide whether this group is still close enough to justify buying at the trade deadline or whether the slide has already changed the conversation. [Read more 🡒]