Dad-to-be Bassitt pitches Blue Jays past Mets
TORONTO 3 NEW YORK 0
NEW YORK — Chris Bassitt took the mound after a 91-minute rain delay, ready to rush back to Toronto as his wife went into labour, and shut down his former team on three hits to lead the Blue Jays over the New York Mets 3-0 on Friday.
Bassitt’s wife Jessica was due to give birth to their second child after daughter Landry.
The game was scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. local time but began at 8:41 p.m. and didn’t end until shortly after 11 p.m. George Springer started the night by homering on Justin Verlander’s second pitch.
Bassitt (6-4) tied his season high with eight strikeouts and walked none, throwing 101 pitches. He began his big league career with Oakland, was traded to the Mets ahead of the 2022 season and left for a $63-million, three-year contract with the Blue Jays.
He had not been to Citi Field since losing the decisive Game 3 of an NL Wild Card series against San Diego last October.
The 34-year-old right-hander escaped a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the third, retiring Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil on popups around a called third strike to Francisco Lindor. That inning began a streak of 14 straight batters retired for Bassitt.
Tim Mayza relieved with two outs and none on the eighth, and struck out Nimmo when the batter was called for a pitch clock violation with a 2-2 count.
Jordan Romano finished the four-hitter for his 14th save in 15 chances, the Blue Jays’ major league-high ninth shutout. New York has been blanked eight times, matching the Mets’ total last year.
Springer hit his 54th leadoff homer, tying Alfonso Soriano for second behind Rickey Henderson’s 81. New York has been outscored 46-13 in the first inning this season.
Daulton Varsho added a two-run homer in the eighth off Jeff Brigham.
Verlander (2-3) gave up five hits and struck out out eight over six innings. He threw 117 pitches, the most by a big leaguer this season and the most for Verlander since 2019, before he had Tommy John surgery.
Texas 2, Seattle 0
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jon Gray pitched two-hit ball over seven innings to win his fifth consecutive start, Marcus Semien scored the game’s first run after extending his major league-best hitting streak to 21 games and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Friday night.
Gray (6-1) struck out five and walked one to win a duel against Luis Castillo (4-3) that took only 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Castillo limited the Rangers to one run over seven innings with six strikeouts and one walk. Texas entered averaging an MLB-best 6.29 runs per game.