On Tuesday evening, the Blue Jays played the second of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers, falling 4-1 to lose the series. Let\u2019s take a look at what went on in this one.<\/p>\n
For the first time since Kevin Gausman\u2019s last start (Wednesday), the Blue Jays didn\u2019t give up a run in the first inning. They did give up the first run of the game, though, as Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single in the top of the first with runners on the corners, making it 1-0. That same inning, Will Smith grounded out with runners on the corners and one out, but it wasn\u2019t hit hard enough to turn two, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
The score stood that way until the top of the fifth. Gausman walked the first batter he saw that inning, then balked to move the runner to second. John Schneider came out, got tossed, then got angry. Unfortunately, that balk cost the Blue Jays another run, as Alex Freeland hit an RBI single.<\/p>\n
JOHN SCHNEIDER GETS IN THE FACE OF THE UMPIRE!<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #BlueJays50<\/a> <\/p>\n In the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Jays finally got on the board after Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez hit a lead-off single. With Gim\u00e9nez on second, George Springer hit a double to cash him in, making it 3-1. After a walk put runners on first and second with no outs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez both grounded out, ending the threat.<\/p>\n George Springer gets the Blue Jays on the board with an RBI double! <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #BlueJays50<\/a> <\/p>\n That somehow wasn\u2019t the most egregious piece of hitting from Blue Jays\u2019 hitters in the game. Still down by two, Kazuma Okamoto began the bottom of the seventh with a lead-off double, then Ernie Clement hit a bunt single to put runners on the corners. Davis Schneider drew a walk, loading the bases with no outs. They didn\u2019t score, as Gim\u00e9nez flew out, Brandon Valenzeula struck out, then Springer flew out.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays leave the bases loaded in the 7th inning. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #BlueJays50<\/a> <\/p>\n Jeff Hoffman<\/a> pitched in the ninth, striking out the first two batters he faced. The third batter he faced didn\u2019t get it out of the infield, but Guerrero Jr. missed Hoffman running to cover first. That was fine, as Valenzuela was there to back it up. Then Valenzuela inexplicably threw it into the outfield. An RBI single cashed in that runner.<\/p>\n Someone needs to add circus music to this video. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #BlueJays50<\/a> <\/p>\n Okamoto struck out to begin the bottom of the ninth, Clement drew a walk, then Schneider struck out to push the Jays to the brink. Gim\u00e9nez hit a single to put runners on the corner, then Tyler Heineman struck out to end the game. Basically a microcosm of the Blue Jays\u2019 season thus far.<\/p>\n Takeaways\u2026The Blue Jays are still missing that big inning<\/a>. They\u2019ve shown glimpses of their 2025 selves so far this season, look at the first three batters of the seventh, but they haven\u2019t got that big hit this season. On Tuesday, they were 3-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight stranded.There are a few reasons for that, of course. With Alejandro Kirk and now Addison Barger<\/a> out of the lineup, the bottom of the lineup is thin, especially with their slow starts. Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez is a bright spot in the bottom third, at least, as he was 2-4 in this game.<\/p>\n One other positive to take away from this game is that George Springer hit his 800th career RBI, accounting for the Blue Jays\u2019 only run in this game. They also hit three doubles, which is more than a quarter of their doubles this season. Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez, Springer, and Kazuma Okamoto hit those doubles.<\/p>\n Pitching, not including Brendon Little, Tyler Heineman, or the revolving door of bulk relievers on minor league deals, has continued to be a bright spot. Gausman had his worst start of the season, pitching five and one-third innings with five hits allowed, three earned runs, two walks, and five strikeouts. Still, he gave the Blue Jays a chance.<\/p>\n Mason Fluharty struck out two in his inning and a third, as did Louis Varland. Just like his last outing on Friday, Jeff Hoffman was tagged with an unearned run because of an errant throw from a catcher. The Blue Jays\u2019 defence has been sloppy all season long and needs to improve.<\/p>\n With the losing streak now at six games, the Blue Jays need to find a way to win in Wednesday\u2019s getaway game. It won\u2019t be easy, as the Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani as their expected starter. Dylan Cease is set to make his third start as a Blue Jay against a lineup that is familiar with him. The series final has a 3:07 PM ET start time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday evening, the Blue Jays played the second of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers, falling 4-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-669495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","14":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116366955329038675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}