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| Harold Castro: not even the problem |
Vladdy's solo home run stood up an awful long time, and Robbie Ray pitched a true beauty (8IP, 1ER, 5H, 11K), so much so that it didn't even seem like necessarily all that big of a deal when the Tigers finally scratched out a run in the top of the eighth. The bottom of the ninth ended up being super dark, and we will for sure get to that, but the bottom of the eighth was a huge drag, too: with Espinal and Bichette on and nobody out, Marcus Semien struck out, and Vladdy grounded into an inning-ending double play. That's tough, because those are the exact guys you want up in that situation, and we didn't get a thing out of it. But no worries! Jordan Romano will pitch the ninth and leaves a double stranded at second! Bottom of the ninth, let's walk it off! And yet; Hernandez and Gurriel both walk, to give us another fairly glorious two-on-nobody out situation. This time, though, a greater indignity than a Semien strikeout and Vladdy rolling over a grounder: rather than have Alejandro Kirk face the lefty Gregory Soto, Charlie Montoyo sent Breyic Valera up to bunt. To my thinking, the point of having Alejandro Kirk around is that he can swing the bat, especially, one would hope, against lefties, and yet there was Valera, bunting it very much to the Jonathon Schoop at first base -- who was playing in closer than I think I have ever seen -- who fired it to third to get the lead runner. Oh no. The Randall Grichuk double play that ended the inning a few pitches later felt at least as inevitable as the bullpen trouble that followed in extra innings.
The worst Blue Jays loss this year? I can't think of one that felt as dire and discouraging, even in the worst of the full-on "bullpen woes" portion of the season. But there's still time, one might well say, and one might well mean it a couple of ways.
KS
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