Blue Jays 5, Guardians 3: "All Guas, No Break," As A Sign Said One Time (It Took Me A Minute)

 

"I like to get out and I like to meet and talk
to people from Canada"—me too, Kevin Guasman; me too

Something of a nervous ninth, sure, but ultimately Louis Varland elected to just strike out a couple guys real quick to end it with the bases loaded and the tying run in scoring position, no big deal or whatever. We probably could have done without the ninth-inning shots of lightly-deposed former closer Jeff Hoffman, which I believed hoped to find him all sad, but instead just found him sitting in the bullpen (you've seen this; you know how this looks). Tyler Rogers was great ahead of him, and Mason Fluharty struck out the only batter he was tasked with (let me task you with this ask real quick, Mason Fluharty) in the seventh, given how Kevin Guasman pitched six-and-two-thirds, and continues to deal to start the season (did you know he pitched more than literally anyone else did last season, when you add in the postseason? even more than Yamamoto! [though Yamamoto probably could have pitched an extra hundred-and-fifty innings or so if anybody had just asked]). Kazuma Okamoto hit his second monstrous home run in as many days, and a delightful sixth-inning rally was highlighted by Vladdy stealing second on a three-and-oh count to Okamoto (who singled later in the at bat, but sharply, and so Vladdy had to wait until a little later in the inning to actually score, but the steal itself still ruled, even if it accomplished little beyond the æsthetic [are stolen bases broadly, but especially Vladdy's stolen bases in particular, autotelic? I am talking myself into that being the case, I think]). The Guardians played notably shoddy defense, and though they were charged with no errors, they were very much charged with a Giménez double that knocked in two and a Varsho RBI single, both of which I bet Cleveland pitchers would really have much preferred been just regular outs, given how they were right by guys. But so it goes, and today it went in our favour. Somehow Patrick Corbin is pitching again tomorrow as we try to take the series. I don't understand how this could possibly be.

KS