Blue Jays continue extreme suckage, rains in dome, Villanueva taken down a notch
Tonight's clash between the O's and Jays featured Carlos Villanueva and Zach Britton. Villanueva came off a very good start against Tampa, pitching 6 innings, striking out 7 and not allowing any runs on 5 hits. Meanwhile, Zach Britton has come off three great starts in a row. In his last start, Britton pitched 8 innings of ball against Chicago, allowing 1 run, 7 hits and striking out 10. The game should be a pitching duel.
Back with the Jays is Anthony Gose and Chad Beck. Arencibia is probably a week away from rejoining the club.
In the bottom of the first, Rajai reached on an infield hit off the plate, but Colby bunted straight to the pitcher and the force at 2nd was an easy shot -- Nothing else doing that inning. In the bottom of the second, Escobar singled, but once again -- nothing doing. In the bottom of the third, Hechavarria singled to open the inning, Rajai bunted him over, but nothing doing. Sierra then doubled with two out in the bottom of the fourth, but nothing doing. 4 innings, four stranded runners.
Villanueva, meanwhile, did nothing short of face the minimum through 12 batters, continuing to strengthen through the season.
In the top of the 5th, Adam Jones then hit a ground rule double as it started to rain inside Rogers Centre. An out later, Villanueva walked Davis. Mark Reynolds then his a three run home run just over the fence to the bullpen in left.
The Jays offense continued to do nothing as the rain continued to fall at Rogers Centre. In the top of the sixth, a single and a double followed by a sac fly to score Markasis to make it 4-0 after six. Jays did nothing in the bottom of the sixth as the roof continued to remain stuck open in the rain, and a fire alarm disrupted Escobar's at bat.
In the 7th, the Orioles managed to single and double and score another run through the sacrifice to make it 5-0. Aaron Loup came on to pitch with two outs. He balked home Machado, and Markasis doubled. JJ Hardy then singled home Markasis as the throw skipped off the wet turf over the catcher's glove. 7-0 into the stretch.
The Jays continued to do nothing offensively in the bottom of the 7th. In the eighth, Aaron Loup continued to be awful with a single-single-double to end Aaron Loup's crappy outing (1 out, 5 hits, 4 earned runs). On came Chad Beck to completely suck with a single-single-double-single to score four more runs. With the bases loaded and behind 12-0, an inning ending double play ended the misery.
Jays did nothing in the 8th against Kevin Gregg or in the 9th against Zach Phillips.
Well, I'm completely flabbergasted.
The Orioles are just not that great a team. Their record is what it is because of their closer and their setup. Their hitting is average. Their starting pitching is average, yet not only can the Blue Jays not hit, they can't manage to score a freaking run in the two games, and this is with an okay line up that features two-thirds of a lineup. Seven hits in two games. That's absolutely ridiculous.
The second thing is the dome. Presumably, the dome staff have access to weather radar and a meteorologist. There is absolutely no reason to open the dome. Rogers couldn't close the dome and it ended up pouring in the dome which absolutely affected the Jays performance on the field. Ridiculous, terrible, and it should not have happened.
Villanueva had 6 earned runs over 6 2/3rds inning. He looked great through the first three, but started to wear down in the middle innings. He struck out six and walked one. Loup got one out, got 5 hits, and earned 4 runs. Beck pitched an inning, got 4 hits, and 2 runs earned. For Villanueva, this might take away a little bit of his marketability as a starting pitcher in another market.
Hits for the Jays by Rajai, Yunel, Moises and Hechavarria. Sierra got a double. Edwin got walked intentionally and Kelly Johnson walked. Rasmus, Lind, and Mathis did nothing.
It's just an awful outing by the Jays with absolutely no bright spots at all.
Great article!
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