Jays score eight but it isn’t enough
The Blue Jays offence finally showed some signs of life on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium. But by the time the bats awoke from their prolonged slumber, it was too little, too late.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his second home run while George Springer, Bo Bichette, Ernie Clement, Daniel Vogelbach and Davis Schneider all doubled in one of the Jays’ most productive games of the season.
Unfortunately, it came on a rare poor night for starter Kevin Gausman.
Gausman was hit hard, early and often, as he retired just four batters and surrendered five runs in the shortest start of his Jays tenure. A ninth-inning rally then came up short, with the potential tying run stranded at first, and the Jays dropped to 4-5 with a 9-8 loss to the New York Yankees.
The Jays fell behind early after Gausman surrendered three runs in the first on home runs by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. He surrendered two more in the second before he was pulled in favour of Mitch White. Gausman, whose velocity was down, surrendered four hits and walked two.
The game looked like it would turn into a blowout, but the Jays kept chipping away. They scored one in the third and fourth innings before adding three in the seventh, on a homer by Guerrero and RBI double by Vogelbach. In the ninth, they scored three before Springer struck out with a man on and the rally was cut short.
After scoring just two runs in three games against the Astros in Houston and three in Friday night’s series opener in New York, the Jays will consider Saturday’s offensive output a step in the right direction, but it didn’t change their early season narrative.
Gausman has bailed his offence out plenty of times before. On Saturday, the bats performed better, but still couldn’t quite return the favour.