“I haven’t seen him battle for five innings since I’ve known him to be honest with you, (but) I think he did tonight”, Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He’s a different pitcher, he’s a better pitcher”.
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The Rays returned to the cellar against Toronto, losing 7-0 to the Blue Jays, who took over first place with a 7-0 victory. The 33-year-old was nowhere near that sharp against the Rays, struggling with control over the course of a 113-pitch effort – the second-most pitches he’s thrown in a game this season.
He has played in just 80 games for the Blue Jays this season, hitting a paltry.222 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs. Today we did a better job of mixing in everything, but what he can do with his fastball impresses me most. “And I have more confidence in all my pitches and that makes a huge difference”. His 16 defensive runs saved this season represent a full two-thirds of the team’s combined total. He believed it to be a turning point for his evening. Donaldson swung at the next offering sending a fly ball into foul territory down the right field line that clanked off Steven Souza Jr.’s glove keeping the plate appearance alive for Donaldson who singled.
He allowed five runs, including a three-run homer by Troy Tulowitzki, though only two were earned.
Snell, meanwhile, was charged with three runs in the opening frame, all of them unearned.
Darwin Barney doubled with one out and scored on a Travis single.
After optioning Danny Barnes down to the minors on Tuesday night, the Blue Jays recalled right-hander Ryan Tepera from Buffalo.
It was the second time in three games, all at home, that the club posted at least five runs after failing to do so even once over a seven-game road trip last week. Those fifth and sixth innings got a little stressful.
Estrada, who had given up only two earned runs in three career starts against the Rays, managed only one clean inning, somehow working his way through troublesome spots such as the jam he faced in the third.
He closed four of six innings with a strikeout, snuffing out any hope of a rally.
As for the Blue Jays, they’re 37-18 in their last 55 Wednesday games, and 4-0 in Happ’s last four starts in game three of a series. Jon Lester (12-4, 2.93 ERA) gets the ball for the Cubs.
“It’s extremely frustrating, especially after an off-season that a lot of hard work went into, just getting my body ready and hopefully avoiding these type of situations and then having it happen on two freak accidents, it’s pretty disappointing”, Bautista said, referring also to the toe injury, which occurred in a collision with the outfield wall in Philadelphia.
The Toronto bullpen yielded only one hit over three scoreless innings.
Right before game time, the Toronto front office made a decision to place Jose Bautista on the 15-day disabled list with a grade one knee sprain (what does one get a grade one knee sprain for back-to school?).
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After the 9-2 loss to the Rays on Tuesday, the Blue Jays are averaging 2.8 runs over their past 10 games in which they have recorded double-digit hits once. His counting stats are depressed due to a DL stint earlier in the year.
