Dodgers’ additions add up to win
Tyler Glasnow is really good, and right now the Blue Jays offence is really bad. That led to the expected result at the Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon, a 4-2 loss to the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Jays managed just one hit over the first six innings against Glasnow, acquired from Tampa Bay in December and given a fiveyear contract extension worth just over $135 million (U.S.).
That hit was a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — a third-inning shot into the left-centre gap at 117.6 miles per hour off the bat. It was the hardest Guerrero had hit a ball in two seasons but, incredibly, wasn’t the hardest of the game.
That distinction went to Shohei Ohtani, whose 119.2-m.p.h. single off Yusei Kikuchi in the second inning made the score 3-0 L.A. It was the hardest-hit ball of Ohtani’s majorleague career.
While that rocket produced a run, Guerrero’s didn’t, as Daulton Varsho struck out behind him. Varsho was the victim of two of Glasnow’s nine strikeouts, which gave the right-hander the MLB lead with 53.
The Jays finally got to Glasnow in the seventh, when Danny Jansen’s leadoff walk was cashed by a Davis Schneider double. The Dodgers pitcher then left the game with the trainer because of cramping and the bullpen shut things down the rest of the way, earning Glasnow his first win against the Jays in his 10th career start against them.
Kikuchi wasn’t at his best, giving up more than three runs for the first time this season, and was behind the 8-ball right away. Mookie Betts led off the game with a line drive up the middle that Varsho, baseball’s best defensive outfielder, misplayed into a triple with an illadvised dive. Betts scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly.
The visitors added two the next inning on four singles, the last one by Ohtani — the only hit of the game for the Blue Jays spurner, showered with boos for the second straight day — but Kikuchi settled down from there, allowing only three more hits and getting through six innings.
After winning seven of nine, the Jays have dropped five in a row with a total of just nine runs.
Dodgers 4
Blue Jays 2
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