Patrick Corbin turned in a second pretty good start in a row today, giving the offence time to overcome a slow start. Jeff Hoffman continues to be disturbingly combustible, but the rest of the bullpen did good work. Louis Varland picked up his first MLB save, and you have to wonder whether he’ll start to get some more opportunities with the way he’s been dominating.
Amazingly, this was their first series win since sweeping Sacramento to open the season. They’ve dug a hole, but this little three game win streak hopefully represents the turning point.
We had a scoreless pitchers’ duel for the first half of tonight’s game. The Jays got runners in each of the first three innings against Jack Kochanowicz, but couldn’t score. Ernie Clement lined a single in the first, and Jesus Sanchez and Daulton Varsho singled in the second, while Kochanowicz hit Lukes in the third. A pair double plays helped erase all the runners, though. An Eloy Jimenez walk and Varsho’s second hit put a pair on in the fourth, but again they were stranded. Kahanowicz faced the minimum for the first time in the fifth.
Patrick Corbin, on the other hand, retired the first six Angels hitters before walking Vaughn Grissom to open the third. The Jays got their own double play, though, on a nice backhand flip by Clement and a strong turn by Andres Gimenez. Corbin again allowed no runners in the fourth.
Finally, Oswald Peraza broke up the no-hitter with one out in the fifth, on a grounder into left field. Nolan Schanuel followed with another single to put runners on the corners. That set the table for Grissom to break the stalemate with a sac fly to centre field, putting LA in front 1-0. Corbin then walked Logan O’Hoppe, but got a ground out to escape the jam.
Vlad reached on a throwing error after grounding to third with one out in the sixth. Sanchez pulled a grounder through the gap into right to advance him to third, putting them in the same position the Angels had been in in the previous half inning. And like the Angels, they got a sac fly to plate their first run. This one came courtesy of Eloy Jimenez and tied the game at one. Sam Bachman was called from the bullpen to take over for Kochanowicz. He got Varsho swinging to preserve the tie.
Spencer Miles took over in the bottom of the sixth, working a clean inning including a strikeout and a nifty bare-hand on a Mike Trout broken bat tapper back to the mound. Bachman remained in the game, taking care of business against the bottom third of the Jays order.
In the seventh, Gimenez made an amazing leaping grab on a broken bat liner by Jorge Soler for the first out. Peraza bunted for a single, prompting John Schneider to call on Mason Fluharty to face the lefty Schanuel. He got his man, and Brandon Valenzuela got Peraza at second to turn the strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.
Drew Pomeranz took over for the eighth, and Schneider decided to get deep into his managerial bag to counter. Myles Straw pinch hit for Lukes and flew out to right, but Clement laced a double down the left field line. The Angels intentionally walked Guerrero to get to Lenyn Sosa, who was hitting for Sanchez. That proved to be a mistake, as Sosa doubled off the wall in right. Clement scored standing up, and Vlad narrowly beat the throw at the plate to put Toronto ahead 3-1. Davis Schneider came on to run for Sosa, and Jimenez hit a ground ball single to bring him around and increase the lead to three. I’ll admit using Straw to hit and Schneider to pinch run is not how I would have done it, but you can’t argue with the results. Tyler Rogers came on to protect the newly acquired lead, gettin his usual three easy ground outs.
Old friend Nick Sandlin pitched the ninth for the Angels and retired the Jays in order. In the bottom half, Jeff Hoffman had yet another meltdown. He struck out Zach Neto, but then Trout lined a single. Hoffman hit the next two batters to load the bases, then gave up a hard line single to Yoan Mondaca, plating one to make it 4-2. That finally prompted Schneider to give Louis Varland a chance to pick up his first major league save. It took him one pitch to get Schanuel to ground into a double play.
Jays of the Day: Varland (0.33), Sosa (0.31), Sanchez (0.12), Corbin (0.12)
Less So: Hoffman (-0.29), Okamoto (-0.18), Gimenez (-0.12)
It’s a day game tomorrow, with first pitch at 3:07pm ET. Eric Lauer (1-3, 7.13) will look to keep working his way back into form, while Jose Soriano (5-0, 0.28) looks to continue what’s been a breakout year for the Angels. After that it’s a travel day, with the Jays coming home to host the Guardians over the weekend.