The Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks opened a mini two game series Tuesday night at Chase Field. The Blue Jays sent Aaron Sanchez to the mound against Diamondbacks young righty Zack Godley. Both pitchers were effective in the early innings. Zack Godley was able to get the Blue Jays hitters to chase his curveball most of the night resulting in seven strikeouts. However, in a couple of innings his curveball stayed up in the zone and the Jays capitalized. In the third inning, Edwin Encarnacion hit a three run homer and in the fifth Josh Donaldson an RBI single. Godley went five innings giving up four runs on six hits and one walk. The Diamondbacks bullpen pitched the final four innings giving up an unearned run in the ninth.
Aaron Sanchez continued his dominance this season and he did it with his familiar combination of missing bats and inducing ground balls. Of Sanchez’s recorded outs 11 were ground balls and 5 via the strikeout. His final line was seven innings, six hits , one run, no walks and five strike outs. Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna finished the game off to preserve the win for the Blue Jays, 5-1.
TOP PLAY OF THE GAME BY WPA
In the top of the third inning, Toronto trailing 1-0, Zack Godley got two quick outs before giving up singles to Devon Travis and Donaldson. Encarnacion, who loves to hit at Chase Field, hammered a hanging curveball into the left centre field seats giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. This increased the win probability of Toronto by 30.2 percentage points.
Encarnacion absolutely loves this place. That's his ninth home run in 16 games at Chase Field. #BlueJays
— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) July 20, 2016
BOTTOM PLAY OF THE GAME BY WPA
The Diamondbacks, with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the fourth, had an opportunity to cut into the Blue Jays 3-1 lead. However, Arizona shortstop, Nick Ahmed hit a ground ball back to the Sanchez who started a double play to end the inning. This missed opportunity lowered the Diamondbacks win expectancy by 11.3 percentage points.
DEVON TRAVIS
Ezequiel Carrera was sidelined for the second consecutive game due to discomfort in his left Achilles tendon and manager John Gibbons indicated he may not play in finale tomorrow. As a result, Devon Travis was asked to lead off for the Blue Jays. He proceeded to take advantage of this opportunity and was a key contributor in the Blue Jays offense. He had two hits in five at bats, one RBI and scored two runs.
Up Next
The Blue Jays will try to extend their win streak to three games and sweep the mini series against the Diamondbacks tomorrow afternoon. It will be a matchup of two struggling starters, the Blue Jays will send Marcus Stroman (7-4, 5.15 ERA) against Diamondbacks lefty Patrick Corbin (4-8, 5.25 ERA). First pitch will be at 2:40 PM ET/12:40 PM MT.
Lead Photo: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports