2022 Game One-Hundred-Thirty-Two: Blue Jays 4, Pirates 3

 

Nice save, Romano

Téo's ground ball in the seventh found a hole and plated the go-ahead run, Cavan Biggio homered in the fourth, Vladdy stole a base so Kirk could drive him in in the third, and Whit Merrifield knocked Bo in early, but all of that was really just a prelude to Jordan Romano's incredible ninth inning, which opened inauspiciously when Jack Suwinski dunked the teensiest little hit through the (shifted) left side on a pretty good 0-2 pitch. Next up, Cal Mitchell ripped a ball right off of Romano, harmlessly in the sense that Romano was himself physically unharmed, but quite harmfully in the sense that it trickled into the outfield and put runners on the corners in a one-run game, nobody out. But not for long! Because Mitchell stole second! So that's two runners in scoring position, nobody out: anything that gets to the outfield, even a lazy flyball that gets caught, ties the game, and a single of almost any kind wins it (for the Pirates [not my preference]). And the simplest solution at that point, Jordan Romano rightly determined, was to just strike three guys out in a row, no big deal, which he did (no big deal), and then everybody was very happy. It was amazing! I would like to also draw your attention to Anthony Bass' clean eighth (two strikeouts) against all lefties. It felt like it was all lefties all day, actually, as that's how the Pirates lined up against Ross Stripling, which felt like an odd strategy, in that Stripling has had "reverse splits" this year, as he has been even better against lefties than against righties, no doubt due to his really awesome changeup. It's quite a pitch!

And so a series sweep, which is just what we needed. Combined with Baltimore's loss (finally!) on Sunday, the Blue Jays are in the clear by two-and-a-half games, and trail the Rays by one game, the Mariners by two. Fairly astonishingly, the Blue Jays now sit just six games behind the freefalling Yankees, and should seriously consider winning the AL East (let's go). Failing that, though, I could easily content myself with a wild card spot, even their present wild card spot should that be their lot (it might be the best one! we have talked about this!). Four games in three days in Baltimore starts . . . in like two hours, actually, for the first half of a doubleheader, with Kevin Gausman on the mound. Saturday's bullpen day was really the result of the Blue Jays wanting their rotation to be set (more or less [at least better than it would have been]) for these important games at Camden Yards. It's funny, because so long as the Blue Jays win one of the next four, they'll leave Baltimore in the same wild card spot they currently enjoy, so as long as they avoid a four-game sweep, they're fine? And yet, if the Blue Jays somehow manage to win all four, the Orioles would very nearly be buried, six-and-a-half behind with only twenty-some games to go. So I am not approaching this series with dread, fearing that Orioles could overtake the Blue Jays for the final wild card spot (though they could), but instead with a good deal of fighting spirit in the hopes that this series offers the Blue Jays their first opportunity to truly secure, at worst, the final wild card spot (which, as you may have heard, is a sneaky-good one).  

KS