Well that was dramatic. Two teams in deep skids early in what were supposed to be their years. Whoever lost was going to have serious questions about their season, while whoever won would have to wonder if this represented turning the corner. It was about as dramatic a game as it gets, too, with multiple lead changes late setting up a tense tenth inning. Great win, but let’s try to make it a little easier on ourselves tomorrow, K?
It was a pitchers’ duel between Jacob Misiorowski and Kevin Gausman early on. William Contreras walked in the bottom of the first, Jesus Sanchez singled in the top of the second, and a Sal Frelick pop up dropped in front of a diving Nathan Lukes in the third. In the fourth, Sanchez notched his second single. That was it through three and a half innings.
Gausman blinked in the fourth. Brice Turang singled to lead off the inning, and Gary Sanchez followed with a walk. That set up a three run Jake Bauers homer to centre field. He gave up one more single but was able to limit the damage there.
The Jays got one back in the next half inning, as Andres Gimenez homered to left field to make it 3-1 Milwaukee. Gausman wobbled in the fifth, giving up a walk and a single to open the frame, but recovered with a K, a pop fly and a soft grounder to get out of it. The Jays kept reeling them in in the top of the sixth, with Daulton Varsho’s third home run of the season cutting the gap to one. A Vladimir Guerrero jr. line single knocked Misiorowski out of the game at just 76 pitches and 5.1 innings pitched. DL Hall came on and got the next two batters, so the Jays remained down one. Gausman faced one batter in the bottom of the sixth, giving up a long single off the centre field wall. Mason Fluharty took over and walked Garrett Mitchell to put two on. Joey Ortiz laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners into scoring position with one out. Mason rebounded with back to back punch outs to escape the jam.
Angel Zerpa took over for Milwaukee in the seventh. Kazuma Okamoto beat out an infield single with one out, but a double play erased him. Braydon Fisher got the first two in the bottom of the inning but then Gary Sanchez tagged a hung curveball, extending the Brewers’ lead back to two.
Lenyn Sosa made his Blue Jays debut hitting for Brandon Valenzuela in the eighth, against Abner Uribe. He singled on a soft fly ball to centre field to turn the Jays lineup over. One batter later, Ernie Clement popped a broken bat fly into shallow centre field for a single. Sosa stretched for third. He was called safe on the field, the Brewers challenged, and after a long review the call stood. Clement did manage to take second on the throw, putting the tieing run in scoring position. Guerrero rolled over a slider, which allowed Sosa to come home to bring the Jays back within a run. Taking the extra base was not at all a good decision for Sosa, but it paid off. One run was all they’d get, though, as Sanchez grounded out to end the inning before Clement could come home. Tyler Rogers took the home half, giving up an infield single but getting out of it with the help of Guerrero, who made a superman dive to just tag out Joey Ortiz after fielding a bunt.
Eloy Jimenez worked a walk off closer Trevor Megill in the ninth. Myles Straw came on to pinch run, representing the tying run. Davis Schneider crushed a line double to left-centre that bounced off an angled section of the wall and just over the fence. His hitting it too hard cost him an RBI, as Straw would easily have scored had it been a regular ball in play, instead of moving to third on the ground rule double. Okamoto cleaned it up, though, with a ground ball through the hole that plated Straw and moved the go-ahead run to third with none out. Andres Gimenez hit a chopper that second baseman Turang had to dive to field, allowing Schneider to come home and give the Jays their first lead of the night, 5-4. After a Tyler Heineman fly out, Clement lined a single to left. Okamoto got the wave and beat the throw home, increasing the lead to two. Clement was thrown out trying to go to second, ending the inning there. That set up Jeff Hoffman for the two run save. He battled his command, walking Frelick leading off. He came back from down 2-0 to get Contreras to ground out, but Frelick was able to steal second and then move up to third. Turang grounded through the hole to score Frelick and then stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position. Hoffman got Sanchez to chase a high fastball for the second out. They decided to intentionally walk the lefty Jake Bauers, putting the go ahead run on but getting Hoffman a more favourable match-up with Tyler Lockridge. That proved to be too clever by half. Lockridge doubled on a ground ball to left, tying the game and forcing Hoffman to face lefty Garrett Mitchell with the winning run at third. He walked him, which forced John Schneider to call on Louis Varland to try to avert disaster. He K’d his man on three pitches, sending it to extras.
Grant Anderson faced the heart of the Jays order in the 10th. He got Varsho to pop out, but then Guerrero ripped a double off the right field wall to make it 7-6. Sanchez was intentionally walked to allow Anderson to face Straw. In keeping with the trend this evening, that was a serious mistake. Straw laced a double into the left field corner, scoring both runners to give the Jays a three run advantage. Straw got himself thrown out stealing third and then Schneider hit a check swing roller to first, so three runs would have to stand up. Varland fielded a come-backer for the first out, then got Frelick to hit a soft fly for the second. Contreras hit a soft grounder towards the hole. Gimenez would have likely had him, but Okamoto cut in front of him and deflected the ball, allowing him to reach and the runner to score. Another ground ball single put the tying run on base. Varland got Sanchez swinging, though, locking down the win.
Jays of the Day: Schneider (0.29), Varsho (0.27), Vlad (0.25), Straw (0.10), Okamoto (0.21), Varland (0.20)
Less so: Gausman (-0.13), Hoffman (-0.57)
Same time, same place tomorrow. Dylan Cease (0-0, 2.45) gets the ball for the Jays, while Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.73) goes for the Brewers.
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