The offence disappeared once again today. They managed just six base runners, on two hits, two walks, and two hit by pitches. they also managed to erase two of those six with double plays. Neither of the hits was for extra bases. The one silver lining is that Vlad managed to extend his hit streak to 22 games, drawing within four of Shawn Green’s franchise record.
On the pitching side, they wasted a strong effort. Yariel Rodriguez was very solid, with decent command (just one walk) and 5 strikeouts among 23 batters faced. He have up one home run, which was the difference in the game, but it was the only extra base knock of the day. Ryan Burr, Brendon Little, and Zach Pop all did their jobs well, although new acquisition Tommy Nance struggled. The staff as a whole deserved better from their counterparts.
We got a pretty good pitcher’s duel this afternoon. Each of the starters took a shutout through five innings. Yariel Rodriguez allowed just three hits and a walk in those innings, while recording five Ks. Osvaldo Bido matched him, with singles by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement plus a Brian Serven walk the only blemishes on his record.
It would be Rodriguez who blinked first. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Brent Rooker hit a high fly that just made it out of the yard, bouncing off the top of the padding on the left field wall. Shea Langeliers followed with a ground ball single, which was enough to knock Rodriguez out of the game. It was his second solid outing in a row, and while he left in line for the loss it’s hard to argue with 5.2 innings of one run ball.
Ryan Burr took over, got out of the sixth, and returned for a clean seventh, getting three of his four outs in the form of Ks. Brendon Little gave up a ground ball single in the eighth, but a double play and a line out got him out of it. Tommy Nance, acquired from the Padres on Wednesday for cash considerations, got one out in the ninth but then ceded a couple of singles, prompting John Schneider to go to Zach Pop in an effort to keep the deficit at one. Pop did his thing, getting Abraham Toro to ground into a double play to escape the jam.
Meanwhile, Bido worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Scott Alexander hit Spencer Horwitz to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but a double play erased the runner and Davis Schneider struck out to end the inning. Tyler Ferguson sat the Jays down in the order in the eighth.
Down to their last outs, the Jays couldn’t touch Mason Miller. Daulton Varsho did walk, but George Springer, Vlad, and Horwitz all struck out to end the game.
Jays of the Day: Rodriguez (0.143)
Jays who should be A’s: Springer (-0.232), Vlad (-0.141), Clement (-0.136), Barger (-0.107)
The series wraps up tomorrow at 1:37pm ET. Chris Bassitt (9-10, 3.95) will go for the Jays while JP Sears (9-8, 4.35) goes for Oakland.