That was one of those irritating games where we had many chances to score and didn’t.
Max Scherzer wasn’t good early. He gave up three runs in the first (and one more in the third). In the first inning, Aaron Judge walked, Cody Bellinger singled, and Ben Rice homered. In the third, Judge walked again, stole second and then Bellinger doubled him home.
Scherzer ended up going 4.1, 3 hits, 4 earned, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts. The walked to Judge hurt, but then Judge gets walked a lot.
Our bullpen was terrific:
Ryan Burucki got five outs, without a baserunner, with 2 strikeouts. Excellent work.Braydon Fisher got three strikeouts in the seventh.Jeff Hoffman gave up just a walk in the eighth.Two in the second: Alejandro Kirk led off with a walk. Ernie Clement doubled, giving us runners on second and third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled home one. Nathan Lukes hit a sac fly.In the second: George Springer led off with a double. Davis Schneider reached on an error by Anthony Volpe at short. Then Vladimir Guerrero doubled home Springer.
We, had runners on second and third and should have scored more. But Kirk ground out to first. The runner on third didn’t have a chance to score (though I thought I’d send him figuring they wouldn’t get a double play and you’d still have a runner in scoring position and who knows, maybe a bad tag, or bad throw?). Then Clement hit a soft liner to second, good work by Vlad not to get picked off. And Ty France ground out to end the inning.
In the fourth Lukes singled with one out and was stranded at first. Springer did hit a hard line drive to right, but Judge made a nice catch.
In the fifth, Vlad had a one out singled, but a double play wiped that out.
In the eighth, Addison Barger, pinch hitting, singled and stole second (I was surprised when Dan said Addison is running). Vlad struck out (great pitch for strike three). Kirk ground out. Clement walked but France ground out. Might have been a good place to pinch hit with Daulton Varsho.
In the ninth, Varsho did pinch hit and popped out to center on the first pitch. Nathan Lukes singled, then was caught stealing second. I had it my mind that he might try stealing because Barger stole. But I think this was likely a hit and run (I hate hit and runs), because Myles Straw swung at a pitch well off the plate (not that Straw can’t do that without a hit and run). It was a close play at second. I would have challenged. Why not? And then Straw grounded out to third to end the game. Straw stumbled out of the box and was just barely out. If it hadn’t stumbled, he would have been safe.
We had 8 hits on the day, the Yankees only had 3, but one was a home run. Vlad and Lukes had two each. Davis, Kirk (with a walk), France, and Straw had the 0 fors.
Jays of the Day: Barger (.149 WPA), Borucki (.094) and Vlad (.089).
Other Award: France (-.249 WPA), Scherzer (-.228), Kirk (-.182), and Straw (-.134)
We were 2 for 12 with RISP. If we had gone 3 for 12 it would have been a different game.
I said, before the game, when Caleb said ‘this is the most important game of the season’ that I wish they would stop saying that stuff. They lost, but they are still in first by two games. Four would be better, but I feel pretty sure that if I had said we would be up 2 games with 20 to play, we would have been very happy.
No game tomorrow. Tuesday the Astros are in town. I’m hoping Bo will be back.
As I repeat to myself too often don’t let the play of the team affect your mood. We are in first, life is good.