This one was dramatic. Dylan Cease looked excellent in his Blue Jays debut, which is great news. The offence took a while to get going but lead big rallies when they were needed. And the Bullpen collapsed early and then kept it interesting but ultimately did enough.
Cease cruised through the first two innings, giving up just a line drive single to Tyler Soderstrom in the first. He got into a minor jam in the third, walking Nick Kurtz with two outs and giving up a single to Shea Langeliers to put Kurtz on third, but he struck out Soderstrom to escape. He struck out the next six A’s, cruising into the sixth with a 1-0 lead. A lead off walk to Kurtz and a one out double from Soderstrom tied the game, though, and then Brent Rooker reaching on a fielder’s choice knocked him out of the game. The final line was one earned on three hits and two walks over 5.1 innings pitched, with a dozen Ks. He and Kevin Gausman became the first teammates since 1901 to punch out at least 11 in a team’s first two games of the season. Braydon Fisher cleaned up from there, getting a double play ball to preserve the tie.
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Meanwhile, the offence struggled with Jeffrey Springs. Vladimir Guerrero jr. worked a two out walk in the first, but then got himself thrown out trying to stretch to third on Kazuma Okamoto’s ground ball single, wasting what would prove to be a rare scoring opportunity. A double play erased a Daulton Varsho single in the second. Their first run off Springs came in the third. Myles Straw and Andres Gimenez lead off with back to back singles, and George Springer crushed a double to left. It was one of those that might have scored two if it were hit more softly, but Soderstrom was able to field it on one hop off the wall and hold Gimenez at third. Two batters later, Okamoto worked a walk to load the bases, but Alejandro Kirk grounded out softly to end the inning. They went down in order in the fourth and fifth. Vlad walked to open the bottom of the sixth, and Springs got Okamoto to pop out before being lifted from the game. A Kirk ground out off reliever Mark Leiter jr. advanced Vlad to second, and a softly lined Varsho single cashed him in, putting the Jays in front 2-1.
The seventh went poorly. Mason Fluharty was hit by two comebackers from his first two batters, leaving the game with an injury at that point. Brendon Little took over and struck out his first batter, but then he forgot to check the runners, allowing a double steal to put men on second and third. Denzel Clarke dribbled one back to the mound and reached on the fielder’s choice, tieing the game at two with two on. Little walked Kurtz to load the based, and then gave up a grand slam to Jay killer Langeliers, putting Oakland out front 6-2. He did get the next batter swinging while John Schneider got another pitcher warmed up. Tommy Nance took over and struck out his man to end the inning there.
The Jays rallied a little in the bottom half. Jesus Sanchez, getting his first game action of the year pinch hitting for Straw, took a curveball off the toe. Andres Gimenez hit a single into right that knocked Leiter out of the game in favour of Elvis Alvarado. He got the first two Jays out, but Vlad grounded a single through the second base hole to bring Sanchez in, cutting the deficit to three. Okamoto battled but eventually struck out swinging to prevent them from getting more.
Nance returned and worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. Alvarado lost the plot in the home half, walking Kirk and Varsho to lead it off. Hogan Harris got the call to face Ernie Clement. He got him to fly out, but it was deep enough for Kirk to tag and move to third. Sanchez then reached well into the right hand batter’s box to poke one halfway up the third base line and Kirk beat the throw home, making it 6-4 and putting the tieing run on base. Gimenez ripped a one hopper up the middle to move it into scoring position and cut the gap to one. Springer popped out, but Barger worked a walk to load the bases for Vlad and knock Harris out. Vlad got jammed a little on a Michael Kelly slider in and lined it directly to second base for the third out.
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Tyler Rogers got a soft grounder and a pair of Ks in the top of the ninth. Man he makes it look easy when he’s on. Kelly got Okamoto looking on a fastball several inches outside that Okamoto opted not to challenge, which might have cost them had Kirk not launched the second pitch he saw over the home bullpen to tie the game at 6. Varsho broke his bat on a soft line out to first. Ernie Clement slapped a single into right to put the go ahead run on, but Sanchez hit a hard grounder right to Kurtz at first to send it to extras.
Louis Varland pitched around Langeliers leading off the 10th, then erased him with a double play ball from Soderstrom. That advanced the Manfred man to third, though, and allowed him to score when Rooker slapped a grounder against the shift into right. He got Jacob Wilson swinging to get out of the inning only down one. Gimenez hit a soft liner off Scott Barlow leading off the bottom half that dropped in front of Soderstrom. Jesus Sanchez was caught in between before deciding to try to go to third. He just barely beat the throw, and then Gimenez stole second to put the tieing and go ahead runs in scoring position. One batter later, Addison Barger hit a towering fly right to the wall in right centre. It was caught, but was plenty deep for Sanchez to tag and score to tie it. The A’s opted to walk Vlad to pitch to Okamoto, who popped out to send it to the 11th.
Spencer Miles made his MLB debut in the 11th. In spite of only having appeared in 10 pro games in his career to date, he made a veteran play right away, fielding a come-backer and catching the automatic runner hung up between second and third for the first out. Then he punched out (the other) Max Muncy for his first career K, issued a walk, and got a can of corn to right to end the inning. About as solid a debut as you could ask for for a reliever. Luis Medina struck out Kirk and intentionally walked Varsho. That brought Clement to the plate. He worked the count full, although to my eye it sure looked like he went around on ball three. He got the call, though, and lined the next pitch into left for the walk off hit.
Jays of the Day: Andres Gimenez put up a 0.77 which, combined meaning more than a quarter of his career offensive WPA has come in the last two games. Stay hot, Andres. Spencer Miles (0.13) earns his first every Jay of the Day (and his first MLB Win, but that kind of pales in comparison, doesn’t it?). Fisher (0.18), Kirk (0.47), Varsho (0.24), and Clement (0.16).
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Less so: Fluharty (-0.18) qualifies, but I’m not going to add insult to injury. So we’ll blame it all on Little (-0.46). Springer (-0.25), Vlad (-0.15), Okamoto (-0.31), and Varland (-0.3) also had the number
We’ll be back tomorrow to wrap up the series. Eric Lauer will take on Luis Morales. First pitch is set for 1:37pm ET.
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