Game Day - April 14th ft. Blue Jays, Rays & Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays @ Toronto Blue Jays
Pre-Game: I should not be this nervous for the 14th game of the season, but here we are, and I’m nervous. Berrios has become such an unknown that I have no feel for what we are about to see in this game.
T1: Berrios comes out, gets a first-pitch flyout, and follows it up with two strikeouts, both swinging strikes. Here is the nervy bit. This is the Berrios experience. Great innings with truly awful blow-up innings sprinkled in often enough to make his era higher than 10. Arozarena looks like a monster at the plate. There were two pitches where he was talking all the way as if he knew what was coming. He is in control of the at-bat when he is in the box. He struck out, but he is dangerous right now.
B1: Springer leads off the game with a home run. This was the first run Rasmussen gave up this season and Bo Bichette followed with a single. This was around the same time the announcers talked about Rasmussen only having given up three hits this season. Putting an end to some of these conversations makes me very happy. What doesn’t give me the good vibes are the bases being loaded with one out and grounding into a double play. Not ideal, but this is the kind of start the Jays need, especially after what the bats didn’t do in the game yesterday. The other observation was the swing and miss from the Blue Jays batters, there was none in this inning. The bats were making contact. The hope is that these near misses will be more squared up when the lineup sees Rasmussen for the third time.
T3: Varsho makes a great catch to end the inning. Berrios was cruising along and the first hit he gave up was a hard single to the catcher in the nine spot of the lineup. This is what I’m worried about, does the game fall apart here, this is when it would start to fall apart. Forget how well Berrios has been pitching so far in the game. However, I love good defense and Berrios loves the leaping catch Varsho makes to get the last out of the inning. The snowball was avoided and the feeling now is, how will Berrios come back in the top of the 4th innings with the big bats of this lineup seeing him for the second time?
T4: Here we go, lead off single for the second spot in the lineup with Arozarena and Franco coming to the plate. How is this going to shake out for Berrios? Berrios strikes out Arozarena in a two-seamer on the outside corner. It was a beautiful pitch. Is this the kind of at-bat that gets Berrios rolling in the right direction? Franco grounds out and the leadoff batter is now at third after stealing second. It almost feels like the worst possible outcome is over but Luke Raley gets a single up the middle and the run scores. It feels like the Jays pitchers need to see the bottom half of this lineup give up some easy innings and spell the rumors that they are the power offense they have shown so far this season. Berrios gets a swinging strikeout to end the inning. I know the run scored, but the Rays are a good team and their engine this season is having the air supply stifled this game. Gets some base runners and give Berrios the support he deserves.
B5: Huge inning for the Jays and a show for the rest of baseball. The Jays got to the starter and they didn’t let the first reliever shut them down. The Jays got the bases loaded and they scored 4 runs in the inning. Not just those runs, but the Rays had an error that allowed an extra run to score on what should have been a GIDP. The score is 6-1 Jays going into the 7th inning. Berrios has been removed from the game after taking a ball off the leg in the top of the 5th. What will the Rays lineup do against a good bullpen?
T7: Two solo home runs and the Rays remind the Jays and its fanbase that the Rays are a good team and they are never out of a game. The game is down to the three-run lead for the Jays and the big bats will get one more bite at the apple before this game is over. The other bit of good news is that the best of the Jays’ bullpen is lined up to put this game away.
T8: Erik Swanson comes in and gets the high-leverage outs he was brought to Toronto to get. The comfort I feel as a fan having the Garcia, Swanson, Romero lineup coming out of the pen is hard-earned. This bullpen has been suspect and desperate for easy late innings over the last number of years. This is what we have been waiting for and a hold-save here is just what we need to wash off that last game against the Tigers.
B8: Bo Bichette is going to be a great player. I hope he stays a Jay for most of his career. He gets a one-out double and he has 5 hits on the day. I repeat, just like the commentators felt they needed to, Rasmussen gave up three hits all season to this point. Bo has five in this game. Not all against Rasmussen of course, but the titanic force that is “the Rays” has added some tarnish to the opening story of their season. That’s all I wanted. I was nervous going into this game and now I believe a series win is possible. Yes, I wrote that before the top of the 9th inning started, I’m feeling brave.
T9: 1-2-3 top of the 9th inning! Slay the giant. This is exactly what I needed and exactly what baseball needed. The chase has officially started. Not just beating the Rays, but this was a signature win for the Jays. There were some missed opportunities but the pitchers and the batters answered the call when they needed to. Great win, this season in on baby!
Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
B2: The early story in this game is the home run fueled lead the Yankees got out to in the 1st inning. Volpe and Judge hit back-to-back bombs while the Twins have not been able to score against Nestor in their first two at-bats. This is a Yankee start, can the Twins break the cycle and get some of the game control back in their dugout?
T4: Cortes may have lost control of his delivery. This game has turned into a pitcher’s duel and there ball is not snapping back into the hitting zone for Cortes like it normally does.
I’m going to be honest, I spent almost all of my energy watching the Jays and Rays. I totally lost track of this game after the 4th inning. This is a huge win for the Twins, coming from behind to win a game where the Yankee bats started out hot. The starter got control of the game and it turned into a pitcher’s duel. The Yankees’ have looked more dangerous than their record suggests they are. They look scary every time they are at the plate. With these two losses to the Twins, how dangerous are they? Are they striking out a lot? There are some numbers that I need to look at to get an understanding of what’s happening with the team.
The AL East is going to be a blast to cover this season.
For the Twins, they get at least a series split, which is what you pencil in as nice to have when visiting Yankee Stadium. This is the kind of performance that builds confidence and gets them 2 or 3 more wins over the next 10 games.
