 |
| it was bound to happen |
This one felt like maybe a half-dozen different games, several of which the Blue Jays had no shot in, a couple they absolutely should have won, and there was maybe one in there that could have gone either way. Yusei Kikuchi continues to defy all previously known things and ways, and in so doing allowed only two earned runs alongside several that were less so (a tough inning for Bo) whilst getting kind of smoked, although not exactly? How could Kikuchi's ERA this far into whatever it he's doing this season be only 3.75? It is super wild but I am way in; it is just a blast, honestly. But Sunday, it was tough on the bullpen: seven relievers tried to piece it together the rest of the way, and did fine, mostly, but Jordan Romano's thirty-one-straight-save-streak (it was really something!) ended in a tenth-inning walk-off home run off the bat of young Jeremy Peña, who seems like he's going to be a very fine shortstop for a long time (is this in part why they did not throw further zillions at Carlos Correa?). This one was a really a whole lot of fun, with a three-run shot from Zack Collins in a big spot in the sixth, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. both hitting one out (solo shot in the fifth) and making the most perfectly Lourdes-Gurriel-Jr play possible in the field: weird route to a fly ball down the line but slid ambitiously and enthusiastically to try and make the catch, missed it, ran the ball down and threw a strike to third base to the get the runner who quite understandably thought this had triple written all over it. He's a likeable guy, that Lourdes Gurriel Jr.! Both the way he plays, and all of the hugging. He is probably our best hugger.
A tough loss, in the sense that it came on a walk-off in the tenth ("Vladdy will lead off the tenth!" I enthused, but my daughter, wise to the ways of the Manfred Man, correctly checked that enthusiasm immediately: "They're just gonna walk him" [lol they sure did]), h o w e v e r let us remember that the series had already been won (a fake but not useless idea), and although the sweep would indeed have been grand, let us agree that a four-and-two road trip to Boston and Houston is a completely desirable outcome, and let us further agree to leave it at that. Hey speaking of both the Red Sox and Astros, let's play seven straight at home against them! That's like a whole week! No off days, Jordan Romano; no off days.
KS
No comments:
Post a Comment