Luke Maile throws two shoutout innings against the Blue Jays (who blew out the Reds)

Reds 3 @ Blue Jays 10

Carson Spiers was good hittin’, to use an old phrase.

Blue Jays batters had an enjoyable evening at Rogers Centre feasting on the Reds’ starter who was left on the mound to surrender 10 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits over 4.1 innings. Spiers gave up five home runs, two doubles, a triple, and a portion of his dignity.

The Blue Jays’ fun started early. In the first inning, a missed catch by TJ Friedl resulted in a Daulton Varsho triple, then Will Wagner continued his hot streak by recording his fourth career RBI bringing in Varsho with a single.

On the other side, José Berríos had a solid start for Toronto: he had a bit of a struggle in the second inning walking two Reds which led to Cincinnati’s first run but he only gave up one more in the sixth. Reds batters really struggled against his four-seamer, recording five strikeouts on that pitch.

The second inning saw the Jays’ second triple, this time by Joey Loperfido. He was doubled in by Addison Barger after which George Springer hit his first homer on a line to the left field corner. In the third, Alejandro Kirk and Spencer Horwitz hit the Jays’ third back-to-back homers of the season. An unearned run thanks to a fielding error by Noelvi Marte made it 7-1 Jays in the fourth.

Spiers was left in the game to begin the fifth inning, where promptly walked Loperfido before surrendering Leo Jiménez’s third career home run. After a Barger strikeout, George Springer dealt the coup de grâce with his second round-tripper to get the Jays to double digits. According to Joshua Howsam’s research, Spiers became the sixth pitcher to yield five or more home runs to the Blue Jays; coincidentally, a year ago today, the Jays hit five homers against Hunter Greene and the Reds.

With the game at 10-2 in the seventh inning, old friend Luke Maile returned to the Rogers Centre mound for the first time since May 25, 2019 (the day the Toronto Raptors clinched an NBA Finals berth). That day he struck out two Padres in a 19-4 Blue Jays loss, tonight, he recorded two perfect innings by tossing unhittable knuckleballs.

There have not been many fun, enjoyable games this season, so bottle the happiness from this one.

Jays of the Day! George Springer (+ .140 WPA) and no one else because the game got out of hand pretty early.

Suckage Jays: None. Zach Pop had a bad outing but he entered with an eight-run lead.

Courtesy Fangraphs

Yariel Rodríguez takes the ball for the Jays tomorrow at 7:07 pm EDT as the offense try to score at least 11 against the Reds’ Nick Martinez.