You can’t lose to the A’s. That’s White Sox behaviour. Luckily, tonight the Jays did enough to survive. Jose Berrios was very strong, and the lineup was just good enough to secure the win. Vlad continues to hit better than .500, extending his hit streak to 21. Spencer Horwitz also seems to be breaking out of his slump, going 3-4 with a homer and a double.
Jose Berrios was terrific. He struggled last time out, but the tme before that he had his best start in a while. Now he’s 2/3, and hopefully that’s a sign that he’s turning it around. Darell Hernandez hit a solo home run to lead off the third inning, but that was all the runs he gave up. Otherwise, he scattered five hits over 7 innings, striking out 9 and issuing just one walk. The A’s are the A’s, but it was a very strong outing none the less.
Erik Swanson and Chad Green each recorded a scoreless inning of relief. Neither got a strikeout, but other than a one out walk by Swanson in the eighth, neither allowed much offence either.
On the home side, George Springer lead off the game with a solo homer. The game stayed tied until the sixth, when singles by Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Spencer Horwitz and a fielder’s choice by Alejandro Kirk gave Toronto a 2-1 lead.
A Horwitz solo shot in the bottom of the eighth provided an insurance run.
Jays of the Day: Berrios (0.334), Swanson (0.120), Horwitz (0.199)
Not so much: Loperfido (-0.121)
We’re back tomorrow at 3:07pm ET. Osvaldo Bido (2-3, 4.64) goes for Oakland, while Yariel Rodriguez (1-4, 3.86) goes for the Jays.