A win! This one was a team effort, with the Jays racking up a dozen hits and four walks, and the pitching staff looking firmly in control most of the way. They’re 2-5 so far in their tour of the NL East with just tomorrow’s game to go.
Chris Bassitt had a really good night. He fell behind early, with a trio of singles in the first putting the Mets up 1-0, but from there he put the clamps on, scattering two hits, two hit by pitches and a walk over the next five innings. As suggested by the hit by pitches, his control wandered a little, but he mixed his pitches really well and froze Mets hitters for 21 called strikes on his way to racking up eight punch outs.
The offence, meanwhile, didn’t hit for a lot of power but were able to rack up base runners against David Peterson, totaling eight hits, two walks and a hit batter in 4.1 innings. They got on the board for the first time in the second, when Ernie Clement reached on error, Spencer Horwitz walked on a wild pitch that moved Clement to third, and Leo Jimenez brought him home with a line single. That tied the game at 1.
They took the lead in the third. Daulton Varsho bunted for a hit and advanced on a throwing error by Peterson, then took third on a Vlad Guerrero jr. ground out. Alejandro Kirk doubled to put the Jays up 2-1. Clement singled to put two men on, and Davis Schneider brought them both home with a triple off the wall in right centre. Joey Loperfido singled Schneider home to extend the lead to 5-1.
Things quieted down from there. A Horwitz line single knocked Peterson out in favor of Huascar Brazoban in the fifth. Brazoban walked Jimenez but allowed neither runner to score, and then returned to work a scoreless sixth.
Brendon Little replaced Bassitt in the seventh. He gave up a lead off double to Jose Iglesias, and one bater later allowed him to advance on a wild pitch while walking Tyrone Taylor. That forced John Schneider to call for Zach Pop. Kirk missed a fastball inside on Pop’s second pitch, allowing Iglesias to come in to score, cutting the lead to 5-2. Pop was able to stop the bleeding there, getting Mark Viento to fly out and winning an 11 pitch battle to strike Pete Alonso out. In the bottom half, Clement hit the Jays’ second triple of the evening with one out, knocking Brazoban out of the game in favour of Alex Young. Horwitz doubled on a fly to the track in right, extending the margin back to 4.
Genesis Cabrera looked good in the eighth, sitting the Mets down in order and touching 99 with his fastball. Loperfido doubled in the bottom half, and George Springer followed with a walk, but Guerrero grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Chad Green handled the ninth. Tonight he looked more like his old self than his recent struggles, securing the victory with a 1-2-3 inning.
Jays of the Day: Bassitt (0.143), Clement (0.146). Only two guys qualify because four of five pitchers and seven of nine batters were in positive territory, so it really split the available WPA pretty evenly.
Not so much: nobody!
It’s a getaway day game at 3:07pm ET tomorrow afternoon. Sean Manaea (11-5, 3.43) will take on Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.72)