Game 17 - Yankees @ Blue Jays April 15th Game Recap

Not So Scary After All?

Chris Bassitt had himself a game and what I time to have it. I’ve been worried about the Yankees coming to Toronto and ruining the faint glimmer of momentum the Blue Jays have cobbled together over the last six games. A lot of the credit goes to the Yankees’ starter who was as wild as I’ve seen from a pitcher in a long time. One of the Blue Jays’ runs was scored on a bases load walk and another was scored on a wild pitch. While helpful, the Blue Jays don’t win this game without Bassitt shutting down a lineup that was starting to get hits from all spots.

I think the Blue Jays’ bats did a decent job in a weird game. When the pitcher is that wild it is hard to know when and what to swing at. As a team they took eight walks and used them all to get the runs they needed to win this game. I feel like the lineup is trending in the right

The Bullpen was on point again. They faced 2.2 innings of work, only walked 2 and shut down the Yankees’ 2-3-4 hitters to finish the game. Swanson might be joining the roster tomorrow and this bullpen will get more swing and miss involved. The pitching on this team is really good. I feel like they will be good enough to carry this team for as long as it takes the bats to figure it out.

I’m going to hide the negative down here. Bo and Vlad need to move down the lineup. Bo is getting picked off to end innings. Vladdy is getting the third out at third base and Vlad swung at strike three that was never a strike. I know they are the core of this championship window for the Blue Jays but they need to be afforded some lower expectations.

Season (9-8) Player of the Game: Chris Bassitt (2)

Season PotG: WINS: Berrios (2), Biggio (1), Schneider (1), Turner (1), Kikuchi (1), Bassitt (1), Varsho (1) LOSSES: Springer (2), Varsho (2), Kiermaier (1), Schneider (1), Bichette (1), Garcia (1)

The Rest of the East

Tampa Bay (9-8) - Lost to the Angels and I think the Rays might not be the team they have been for the past few seasons. They managed right base runners and the last half of the game they put up no threat to close the gap and get the win. Too early to write them off but they are close to being in the same category as the Red Sox.

Baltimore (10-6) - The Orioles just beat the Twins. The Orioles’ pitchers gave up very little and the Baltimore bats were giving multi-hit games to more than half the lineup. Having watched most of this game, it was quality looking baseball. While the Orioles don’t look at World Series bound as they did the first couple of weeks in the season, they are playing good, repeatable baseball.

New York (12-5) - Let down by their starter today and the bats were held quiet by the Blue Jays’ pitchers. It happens. Come back tomorrow and try to get a rubber game for Wednesday.

Boston (9-8) - Three hits and two walks is going to get the job done. I’m comfortable with calling the Red Sox a mid-tier team for the duration of the season. The starter kept the Guardian bats in check for a while, but the bullpen gave the game away and the offense had fewer base runners than the Guardians had runs scored. Not a good look.

Thanks for reading.