On Monday evening, the Blue Jays played their first game against an American League East team, falling 5-0 to the Boston Red Sox in the series opener. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.
In the top of the fourth, Willson Contreras singles to right field, followed by a Roman Anthony line out, Wilyer Abreu walk, and Trevor Story popped up. Marcelo Mayer drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single, but Cease stranded runners on the corners with a groundout.
The Blue Jays were unable to respond in the bottom of the fourth, as Myles Straw lined out, Ernie Clement flew out, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. struck out. To make matters worse, Cease ran into some more trouble in the top of the fifth. A walk was sandwiched between two outs, but on a 3-2 count, Cease plunked Contreras to put two runners on.
Both runners advanced on a throwing error by Cease, but it looked as if he was going to get out of it thanks to a soft tapper to the left of the pitcher. Unfortunately, Cease tripped, allowing the Red Sox’s second run to score.
Thankfully, Cease was fine, but the next batter hit a double to score the Red Sox’s third run of the game, with Jesús Sánchez failing to secure the catch. The inning ended after that, but the Blue Jays went three up, three down in the bottom of the fifth.
Finally, Suárez departed the game to make way for Greg Weissert in the ninth. Yohendrick Piñango pinch-hit, flying out. Heineman grounded out, but Daulton Varsho hit a pinch-hit double for the Jays’ second hit of the game. He was stranded when Ernie Clement popped up.
Takeaways…
Last season with the Phillies, Ranger Suárez threw seven scoreless innings against the Jays, giving up five hits and striking out five. On top of two and one-third scoreless innings in relief in May 2021, Suárez now has a career line of 17.1 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 17 K. Not great that he’s with a division rival.
Honestly, there weren’t many positive takeaways from this game. Davis Schneider made another highlight catch in left field, he’s becoming a solid fielder there. Daulton Varsho continues to hit well, notching his fifth double in his only plate appearance of the game.
Davis Schneider with a diving catch in left field to end the 6th inning!
🎥 Sportsnet | #Bluejays
Jesús Sánchez had a great weekend, hitting two home runs and driving in three on Sunday. He broke up a no-hit bid, but it was a rather fluky, excuse me swing. It’s still a double and his second hit against left-handed pitching this season.
Dylan Cease’s start was a tale of two halves. The first three innings were terrific, going 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. His second half didn’t go nearly as well, going 2.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K. He still did enough to at least give the Blue Jays a chance, but this is the type of consistency he’ll need to improve to become one of MLB’s best pitchers.
Chase Lee gave up the other earned run of the game, a solo home run by Carlos Narváez. If it were a foot to the left, it’s a two-out double. Lee was the 19th different pitcher used by the Blue Jays this season (not including Tyler Heineman). Last year, the Jays used 27 actual pitchers. Not a great sign.
Tommy Nance walked a batter in his inning of work, but stranded the runner. This is the exact type of situation he should be in.
It’s best to just wipe that one from our memory, as it was a pretty tough outing for the team after some positive strides in their last seven games. The Blue Jays will look to even up the series on Tuesday, as Trey Yesavage makes his season debut against Payton Tolle, a pretty exciting matchup. The game starts at 7:07 PM ET.