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Recap: Blue Jays 4, Padres 2; Sanchez Shoves Against San Diego

The Blue Jays were rude hosts to the Padres in their inaugural visit to the Rogers Centre, holding them scoreless until the ninth inning in an eventual 4-2 win. With the Jays sending Aaron Sanchez to the mound, the Padres were definitely going to struggle to score runs. The Jays were going to face the relatively unknown Colin Rea, who came into the game with a 5.01 ERA, so runs against him seemed inevitable.

The game started, and though the Jays had several hard hit balls, it was looking like a sadly familiar story through the first few innings: some liners, some baserunners, but the Jays were unable to make it count. They did get on the board in the fourth inning, after Michael Saunders hit a triple, and promptly came home on a deep sacrifice fly from Troy Tulowitzki. They got two more in the fifth inning, when Kevin Pillar and Devon Travis sandwiched doubles around a Justin Smoak strikeout, and Travis came home two batters later on a Josh Donaldson single. They added an insurance run in the eighth when Tulowitzki hit a ball that very nearly was a home run, but Pillar doubled two batters later to make it academic.

What else can we say about Aaron Sanchez at this point? He was dominant again, with the Padres seeming hilariously over-matched against the young right-hander. Only two players got hits, and only Alex Dickerson got anything more than a single when he hit a double to right field in the seventh inning. Sanchez threw 97 pitches, and the most trouble he got into was in the first inning, when there were two blatantly missed strike calls that led to a walk which was followed by an infield single. But the Padres weren’t able to make that count, and didn’t do much else either, mounting just three hits and two walks over Sanchez’s seven innings of work, striking out seven times.

They did threaten briefly in the ninth inning against Bo Schultz, when Dickerson hit a two-run home run, but Roberto Osuna locked it down quickly, getting the final outs of the game to give the Jays the win.

Top Play of the Game by WPA

With the Jays leading 1-0, Kevin Pillar opened the fifth inning with a double to right field. After a Justin Smoak strikeout, Devon Travis cashed him with a broken bat double to left, giving the Jays a 2-0 lead. This second run increased the Jays’ chances to win by 9.9 percentage points.

Bottom Play of the Game by WPA

Travis walked to lead off the third inning, and Jose Bautista came to the plate. With this being Rea’s third walk of the game, and the lineup turning over, it was a great chance for the Jays to get on the board. But Bautista grounded into a double play, erasing both he and Travis and ending the threat. This lowered the Jays’ chances to win by 8.2 percentage points.

Wallace and Schimpf “Return” to the Rogers Centre

The Padres lineup had a couple of familiar names to those who have followed the Jays’ minor league system for a few years, as both Brett Wallace and Ryan Schimpf were on the card. Wallace was acquired for Michael Taylor in 2009 (not the current Nationals outfielder), and was traded a year and a half later for Anthony Gose, who the Jays later traded for Devon Travis. Given Wallace’s inability to find a major league home, it’s safe to say the Jays are happy about how those transactions eventually played out. Schimpf was a fifth round draft pick of the Jays in 2009, and bounced around their minor league system until the end of the 2015 season before signing with the Padres as a free agent. He’s actually had nine home runs in July for San Diego, making good on his first major league chance so far.

Tulo Being Tulo

Early in the season, a Tulowitzki at-bat was about as fun as getting a tooth pulled. He was looking at middle-middle fastballs, his timing seemed to be off, and he wasn’t driving the ball with any authority. Whether you’re watching the boxscores or the games themselves, it’s clear as day that he’s been much better since roughly the beginning of June, even before his injury. He had several excellent at-bats in this game: his grounder in the first was a missile that allowed Saunders to get to second, his sac fly in the fourth was hit to the warning track in centre field, and he hit a ball in the eighth inning that was a few inches from being a home run. His return to form helped get the Jays through Bautista’s injury, and with Bautista now back in the lineup, Tulo continuing to drive the ball just makes the lineup even more fearsome.

Pitchers Putting Up Zeroes

The Jays came one inning short of two straight shutouts, though they did get 18 straight shutout innings put up by the pitchers, strange considering they did allow 14 runs on Saturday. The Jays’ offense has only scored eleven runs in the four games so far in the home stand, but have won the last two, which is encouraging. It’s pretty easy to win games when you keep the other team from scoring.

Up Next

Tomorrow’s game is at 7:07 PM ET at the Rogers Centre. The Jays will send Marcus Stroman (8-4, 4.90 ERA) to the mound, and the Padres’ scheduled starter is Andrew Cashner (4-7, 4.79), who has been involved in numerous trade rumors of late. Stroman’s last start in Arizona was encouraging, picking up a win after eight strong innings where he allowed just one run. Cashner has not had a great season, but his last couple of starts will have looked good to potential suitors, allowing just two runs and striking out 17 batters over 11 and two-thirds innings.

If Cashner does get traded before then, Padres GM A.J. Preller has said they would start Paul Clemens (1-1, 4.91) instead. Clemens, who has operated mostly out of the bullpen for the Padres this year, started and took the loss on July 20th against the Cardinals, throwing five innings and allowing three runs, striking out five batters.

Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA Today Sports

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