The Blue Jays’ run of series wins finally hit a wall Friday night, and the Yankees made sure the stumble was a loud one.
Toronto fell 8-3, a game that turned hard in the bottom of the sixth and never really came back around. The Jays had been rolling, and as the source article put it, “Well, we weren’t going to win every series for the rest of the season.
We’ve been on a very good run. Hopefully that ‘good run’ will continue after tomorrow.”
The decisive inning began with Jose Soriano still on the mound at 93 pitches. John chose to leave him in, and the move quickly ran into trouble.
George Lombard led off by rolling one down the third-base line for an infield hit, then Spencer Jones lined a single to center. After that, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a ball toward third, and Soriano ranged a long way to get to it, but Kazuma Okamoto had come off the bag to field it, leaving no play.
A little more communication might have changed the whole sequence - something as simple as “I got it, go to the bag” - but instead the Yankees had the bases loaded on two soft rollers and one well-struck ball.
That was it for Soriano. He finished with five innings, five earned runs, three walks and seven strikeouts. Three of the runs crossed after he exited, but the damage had already been done by that sixth-inning burst.
Brandon Fisher was next and handled the immediate aftermath with a strikeout and a fly out, but he also walked Trent Grisham on a full count, forcing in another run. Mason Fluharty then surrendered a two-run single that pushed the score to 5-2. Brandon Little later allowed a two-run homer in the seventh, and Simeon Woods Richardson gave up a solo shot in the eighth.
Toronto’s offense never did enough to keep pace. The Jays managed just five hits, with Myles Straw collecting two of them.
Alejandro Kirk, George Springer and Okamoto had the others. They went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and that was nowhere near enough to stay in it.
There was at least one bright defensive moment. Kirk delivered a strong throw to catch Spencer Jones, finishing a sharp strikeout-throwout double play.
Even with the loss, the bigger picture still has Toronto in the mix. The Jays have put together a 13-5 run against some of the best teams in the league and have now played themselves into the Wild Card race.
Over the final 31 games, they’ll see some lesser opponents, but that doesn’t mean the margin for error disappears. The source article put it plainly: if they win 20 of those 31, they should make the playoffs.
Even 16 or 17 might be enough.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Are Getting An Unexpected Boost From A Familiar Arm
Simeon Woods Richardson is back in the Blue Jays organization after a quick detour through waivers, and Toronto has gotten far more than a depth arm since the right-hander returned. Reacquired after being designated for assignment and clearing waivers, he has given the club six outings and 16.2 innings of rare stability, a useful stretch for a staff that can always use innings from someone already familiar with the system.
The wrinkle, of course, is that the results have outpaced the underlying numbers, which leaves some uncertainty about how long this run can last. Woods Richardson was once a notable piece of the trade that sent him to Minnesota, but his time with the Twins never really took hold before he was released. For now, though, Toronto is simply enjoying the boost, even if the longer-term outlook remains a little murkier than the early returns suggest. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Face A September Call-Up Choice That Could Boost The Lineup
MLB rosters will expand from 26 to 28 players in just over a week, and that means the Blue Jays will soon have a chance to add a little more depth for the September push. Toronto is expected to weigh several internal options, with prospects Jay Harry, Yohendrick Pinango and Sean Keys all putting together strong minor league seasons and putting themselves in the conversation for a call-up.
For a club chasing a playoff spot, the question is not just who deserves the look, but who can give the lineup a needed spark without disrupting the rest of the roster. A September promotion can be more than a reward for good work in the minors. It can also be the difference between carrying extra organizational depth and bringing in a player who gives the Blue Jays another offensive option when the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Keep Winning The Hard Way As Pressure Builds
The Blue Jays keep finding ways to win, but it is happening the hard way. Toronto has been piling up hits and generating plenty of traffic on the bases, only to leave too many chances hanging early in games, which has kept a lot of nights tighter than the raw offensive volume would suggest. For a club trying to stay in the thick of the race, the pattern has made every inning feel a little more urgent than it should.
John Schneider has already pointed to the issue in plain terms, noting the clubs struggles to cash in with runners in scoring position. That has turned a lineup with enough activity to matter into one that often has to wait for late-game hits to separate itself, and it leaves little margin when the pressure rises. The numbers are still good enough to keep Toronto in games, but the next step is turning all those opportunities into a little more breathing room. [Read more 🡒]