Jays clipped as Angels rally in ninth
Clippard coughs up two-RBI singles from Angels’ Ohtani, Simmons
Another rough outing for Tyler Clippard, another last-minute Blue Jays loss, this time to the Los Angeles Angels.
Four days after giving up a game-winning, eighth-inning grand slam to the Oakland Athletics, Toronto’s de facto closer came in for the ninth inning of the Angels’ contest, with the score at 3-1.
The game finished 5-4, in Los Angeles’ favour. Clippard loaded the bases with three one-out walks to Mike Trout, Justin Upton and Albert Pujols. Back-toback two-RBI singles from Shohei Ohtani and Andrelton Simmons earned the win for the visitors, tying the series at 1-1.
Clippard, who had earned his second save of the year in the role a night earlier, has given up six runs in his last two innings of work. He was replaced by Jake Petricka after facing six hitters, his outing garnering a chorus of boos and triggered an exodus of fans from the Rogers Centre.
Together, the eight Jays’ pitchers used on the night gave up as many walks as they did hits: nine in each category.
That trend began with starter Aaron Sanchez, who tossed five clean innings but gave up a handful of walks. Still, Toronto was up 3-0 when he left the game, thanks to solo home runs from Devon Travis, his second of the year and first hit since he was recalled from the minor leagues on Tuesday, in the third and Yangervis Solarte in the fifth. Solarte also added a twoout single to centre field in the fifth to score Josh Donaldson, who had hit his third double in two games. Angels’ lefty Tyler Skaggs rested eight batters before giving up the home run to Travis in the third; he left the game after five innings after surrendering the three runs off as many hits.
John Axford, called to the mound in the sixth, put Toronto’s lead in jeopardy by giving up three singles to the first three batters he faced, good for Los Angeles’ first run. But two outfield assists from Curtis Granderson to Donaldson at third base helped Seunghwan Oh ward off any more damage: the left fielder threw out Zack Cozart on a dropped fly ball for the first out of the inning, before Donaldson tagged Kole Calhoun for the third out. Granderson is the second player to come up with multiple outfield assists in an inning this year, after Baltimore Orioles’ Trey Mancini did so on Monday, and only the fourth Blue Jays’ player, after Devon White, Shawn Green and Dewayne Wise, according to STATS Inc.