Despite an excellent start from Chris Bassitt, the Toronto Blue Jays lost on Wednesday evening.
Facing the Boston Red Sox for the fourth of five games on Wednesday, the Blue Jays fell 3-0 to move their season record to 65-70. After their six-game winning streak was snapped on Tuesday, the Jays have lost their last two.
Boston scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the first, as Wilyer Abreu singled in a run to make it 1-0. The score stood for a long while, before Canadian Tyler O’Neill hit his 24th home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 3-0 game.
Tyler O’Neill’s 24th HR of the season clears the monster. pic.twitter.com/yyG0AW1JeW
— MLB (@MLB) August 29, 2024
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The Red Sox scored more runs than the Jays had hits, as Toronto mustered just two hits. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a single to bring his batting average to .322, while Addison Barger hit his 10th double of the season, along with the team’s only walk on the day.
Overall, the Blue Jays struck out 10 times in the evening, with George Springer striking out twice and Daulton Varsho striking out three times. Guerrero Jr., Spencer Horwitz, Joey Loperfido, Ernie Clement, and Will Wagner all struck out once.
Diving into the stats…
Chris Bassitt certainly didn’t deserve to be tagged with the loss in this game, as he pitched great. Over six and two thirds innings, he allowed five hits, one earned run, one walk, and nine strikeouts to bring his season ERA to 4.27. Chris Bassitt also picked up his 1,000th career punch out. great stuff.
Chris Bassitt gets his 1000th career strikeout. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fogf37YoZv
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 29, 2024
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The Jays used two pitchers in relief, Brendon Little and Ryan Burr, with the former striking out a batter, but giving up two runs, only one earned, in an inning pitched. Burr pitched a third of an inning.
After sweeping the doubleheader on Monday, the Blue Jays were eight games back of the final Wild Card spot with 29 games to go. Had they won Tuesday and Wednesday’s games, they realistically could’ve been within six games of the spot with a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on the horizon.
As fun as it would’ve been to see the Jays push for a postseason spot, it was never going to happen. With a 65-70 record, they sit with the eighth-best odds to land the first-overall pick, or 2.45% odds.
It is worth noting that the Cleveland Guardians had a 2% chance of winning the 2024 draft lottery last December, but jumped all the way to the first-overall selection. Moreover, just because the Jays have low odds of moving into the first-overall pick, doesn’t mean they can’t move up to the top six picks.
The Jays have a chance to win the series on Thursday, as they play the fifth and final game against the Red Sox at 7:10 PM ET. Bowden Francis has the ball for the Jays.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.