Phillies 1 Jays 9
It is nice to be on the winning side of a laugher.
The Jays scored four in both the second and third innings and coasted the rest of the way.
It’s easy to overlook Chris Bassitt’s great start, but he didn’t have a good May, so I’m glad that June is going better for him. Bassitt went seven innings, allowing five hits, two walks and six strikeouts. It’s the first time this year that he’s pitched seven innings—a very nice job.
Mason Fluhardy pitched the eighth, getting two strikeouts. Eric Swanson pitched a quick ninth.
On offense, we had 14 hits, but just one home run. Bo Bichette hit a two-run homer in the second inning. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit, except for Jonatan Clase (who did have a walk) and Vlad Guerrero, who went 0 for 5 (no strikeouts), ending his streak of getting on base at 34 games. He even faced a non-pitcher pitcher in the eighth, but had a flyout. He hit two balls over 100 mph, one a line out, one a ground out and two others over 90 mph.
Alejandro Kirk had three hits, bringing his batting average to .305.
Bichette, Ernie Clement, Myles Straw and Tyler Heineman had two hits each.
We scored:
Four in the second: Davis Schneider had a one-out single. Straw doubled to drive him home (a pretty gutsy send, he was just safe). After a Clase groundout, Tyler Heineman doubled, bringing home Straw. Then Bichette homered.
Four in the third: Kirk started it with a one-out single. Clement followed with a double. Schneider walked. Straw singled, bringing in two. Straw stole second. Heineman singled in two.
One in the sixth: Springer doubled and Kirk brought him home with a single.
Straw and Heineman each drove in three (good to see the big bats doing their job), and Bo the other two.
We did get some good defense in there. Clement made a very nice play at third, but mostly it was great pitching.
Nice of John Schneider to put Kirk in at DH, while Heineman caught. They were 5 for 8 between the two, with 2 runs and 4 RBI.
Jays of the Day: Straw (.167 WPA), Bo (.159), Bassitt (.144) and Heineman (.111).
No one got the other award; Vlad had the low mark at -.038.
Tomorrow, the Jays are in Minneapolis to face the Twins. It says TBD for the Jays. It is likely a combination of Lauer, Fisher, and Schultz. The Twins have Bailey Ober (4-1, 3.48) starting, but I only recognize one Bailey in the world: Bailey Quarters. The Twins have a good rotation; it should be an interesting series.