Blue Jays win third consecutive series, taking two of three from the Red Sox

Series Recap: Blue Jays win third consecutive series, taking two of three from the Red Sox

Monday’s game didn’t go great for the Blue Jays. It was a tale of two halves for Dylan Cease, who struck out five, didn’t walk a batter, and gave up a hit in his first three innings. The rest of the game saw him give up six hits, four earned runs, three walks, and no strikeouts in two and two-thirds innings.

Ranger Suárez dominated the Blue Jays, going eight innings of one-run ball in what turned out to be a 5-0 victory in the opener for the Red Sox. Suárez’s lone blemishes were a walk and a double on an excuse-me swing. In his three career outings against the Blue Jays, Suárez has pitched 17.1 innings with no earned runs given up.

Because of their hitting, the Blue Jays never really stood a chance in Monday’s series opener. Cease gave up a two-out RBI single in the top of the fourth to put the Blue Jays down. The Red Sox scored another run in the top of the fifth, and the Jays had two opportunities to get outs in that inning, but Cease tripped on a fielding play, then Jesús Sánchez couldn’t squeeze the ball, making it 3-0 for the Red Sox.

In the sixth, the first two Red Sox reached, but Carlos Narváez grounded into a double play. With a runner on third and two outs, Caleb Durbin blooped a ball into left field for the Red Sox’s fourth run of the game. Narváez hit a solo home run off Chase Lee later in the game.

Thankfully, the rest of the series went better from there. Trey Yesavage started Tuesday’s game, going five and one-third scoreless innings with four hits allowed and three strikeouts. In the bottom of the third, Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-out single to drive in two, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an RBI single with two outs for the 3-0 lead.

That’s all they needed. Once Yesavage was yanked, Mason Fluharty pitched two thirds of a scoreless inning. Jeff Hoffman, pitching in the seventh, struck out two, his second good outing in a row. Tyler Rogers picked up his seventh hold thanks to a clean inning, dropping his ERA to 0.59. Louis Varland’s ERA is even better, sitting at an incredible 0.56. Like Rogers, he threw a clean inning, striking out all three batters he faced for his fourth career save.

Wednesday afternoon’s rubber match was an opportunity to win their third consecutive series. They did just that. Eric Lauer gave up a home run in the top of the first, but it was all Blue Jays after that. In the bottom of the third, Okamoto drove in two runs thanks to a single, which was followed shortly later by Yohendrick Piñango’s first career RBI.

Then in the bottom of the fourth, Ernie Clement hit his first home run of the season, also driving in Brandon Valenzuela. Before the game, George Springer was activated from the injured list and pinch hit in this game. With two on and one out, Springer hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw to give the Jays a 6-1 lead. That was followed by Myles Straw’s sacrifice fly to give the Jays a 7-1 lead.

Of course, that was more than enough for the win, but for good measure, Valenzuela hit his second career home run to put the Jays up 8-1, winning their third consecutive series and bringing their season record to 14-16.

That match up against the Red Sox was the first time the Blue Jays have played an American League East opponent. Well their series, a show down against the Minnesota Twins, is their first four-game series of the season. Thursday’s game is at 7:40 PM ET.

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