There goes the winning streak.
Fresh off of a sweep of the New York Mets in Queens over the weekend, the Blue Jays returned home to kick off a four-game series with the defending World Series champions and things went sideways in a hurry. The Astros tagged Alek Manoah for six runs in the first inning and proceeded to cruise to an 11-4 win.
Let’s hope Kevin Gausman’s start tomorrow goes better than his last one against the Astros!
Things worth mentioning…
- The Blue Jays came into Monday with a bullpen that had been taxed during a tight series with the Mets so the hope was that Manoah would be able to provide some length. That didn’t happen, as the big righty managed to record just one out in the first inning before getting yanked. Manoah’s final line was six earned runs on seven hits and one walk over one-third of an inning pitched. The legendary Glen Sparkman now has company among the list of Blue Jays who have allowed six earned runs in an appearance while making only one out.
- After Manoah came out, the Blue Jays had to use six relievers to get through the rest of the game. Jay Jackson came in and poured water on the fire for a couple of innings and then Trevor Richards and Anthony Bass came in and allowed two runs each during the fourth and fifth innings. Yimi Garcia pitched a clean sixth, Adam Cimber got five outs, and then Tim Mayza recorded the final three. Jordan Romano, Nate Pearson, Erik Swanson, and presumably whoever the team shuttles up from Buffalo in place of Jackson will be rested for tomorrow’s game.
- The focus of the game is obviously Manoah’s meltdown but the Blue Jays also had a fairly frustrating day at the plate as well. They had 12 hits but pished just four runs across thanks in part to going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho both hit solo homers and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continued his hot stretch with an RBI double that scored Kevin Kiermaier in the seventh inning.
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