Blue Jays 4, Detroit 1: A Charlie Montoyo Sweep ("Two out of three? It doesn't get any better than that.")

 

much, much more like it

Vladdy got one! And what a one: a line drive over the shortstop's head, essentially, that just kept on going until it was over the wall in left (a launch angle of but sixteen degrees, I am told, which is really very low [the lowest of any home run hit this season]). John Schneider moved Vladdy up from his usual number three spot in the lineup to number two, hitting behind Yohendrick Piñango (a day off for George Springer); I remember that in the earliest years of our present century there was a SABRmetric (I choose the old appellation here deliberately) consensus that having your best guy bat second is optimal, but that the difference between having him bat second, rather than the conventional third (Vladdy's customary place) is profoundly marginal. But what if, instead of making scarcely any difference at all, it was the secret to unlocking maximal Vladdy? I choose to believe this to be the case at present. He also singled, you will recall! Daulton Varsho had a great day behind him, too, with both a double and a tidy triple into the Comerica Park's enormous outfield. Kevin Gausman, surprising no one, pitched six more excellent innings, and though the bullpen behind him made things a little more interesting than one might prefer, it really was just the one run total, in the end, out of a combination of our old friend Yariel Rodriguez, Joe Mantiply and Tyler Rogers. A series win! As we inch ever closer to a Wild Card spot! Or, more daringly still, a .500 record! Bring on the Yankees!

Just before we leave Detroit, though, I wanted to note the extraordinary Name Guy quality of the Tigers' Sunday afternoon starting nine. It really was something, taken all in all:

1. Kevin McGonigle SS

2. Dillon Dingler C

3. Colt Keith 3B

4. Riley Greene LF

5. Matt Vierling CF

6. Gage Workman 3B

7. Zach McKinstry 2B

8. Spencer Torkelson 1B

9. Wenceel Pérez RF

This is with Parker Meadows on the IL, too! And while the starting pitcher was the rather ordinarily named (no diss) Jack Flaherty, he was relieved by Burch Smith, which is deeply dead-ball-era-coded. Really just a whole lot to like here.

Finally, I did want to say that, whenever the Blue Jays play the Tigers, but especially when it happens in Detroit, my thoughts always turn to our old friend Neil (formerly of these pages, and endless pages elsewhere), who loved the Tigers, and who is missed. 

KS