A New League—a Toronto Blue Jays Franchise

[JoeyKirby]

The Toronto Blue Jays finish up their four game set in Anaheim, California with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The Blue Jays took the series two games to one, the one was a 5-1 defeat in the second game.

Left hander Zach Britton took to the mound in the finale and did a good job of keeping the game close despite not having his best stuff out there today. Zach went five innings, allowing two runs on nine hits whilst striking out seven Angels batters.

Jeremy Jeffress came on in relief in the sixth and pitched a scoreless inning in which he rung up two batters. Tiny Tim Collins was next in line and he also pitched a scoreless inning and also struck out two. Aaron Crow pitched a third of an inning and allowed one hit in the eight, Jake McGee picked up the other two outs. Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth and recorded his seventh save on the year in a clean inning where he struck out one.

Toronto's bats came on late in this noe as they grabbed one run in the fifth inning, then four runs in the sixth. Jose Tabata continues to hit as he went three for four with a double, a stolen base and he also walked once. Elvis Andrus was the only other Blue Jay to have a multi-hit game as he also went three for four with a double and a stolen base.

Toronto will continue their western road trip as they will play a two game series against the Oakland A's after their off day tomorrow. The expected starters are Danny Duffy (2-2, 4.88 ERA) vs. Jon Garland (2-3, 6.08 ERA) in game one, and Stephen Strasburg (3-0, 2.52 ERA) vs. Kevin Millwood (2-1, 4.15 ERA) in game two.

[JoeyKirby]

[JoeyKirby]

The Toronto Blue Jays end up with a series split against the Oakland Athletics in the two games they played. Toronto came out in the losing end in the first game as they lost in walk off fashion in eleven innings, the final score was 7-6 in the favor of the A's. Toronto would bounce back today though as they picked up a 7-4 victory over the A's.

Stephen Strasburg (4-0, 2.71 ERA) was the starter today for the Blue Jays and did a good job of keeping the game close in this one despite not pitching to his regular standards. The California native went seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits whilst handing out one free pass and striking out seven.

Tim Collins came on in relief in the eight and pitched a clean inning in which he struck out one, lowering his ERA to 4.62 on the year. With the score being 7-3 the Blue Jays brought in Hector Noesi for the ninth inning to try and close it out but he continued his struggles this year as he promptly gave up a solo home run to Athletics slugger Mike Trumbo. John Farrell then called on Aroldis Chapman to close it out, and he was successful, grabbing his eighth save of the year in a clean inning of work.

Blue Jays slugger Giancarlo Stanton put the offense on his back today as he went two for three with two home runs, four runs batted in, and he also reached base twice via walk. Jason Heyward went two for four with a double and a walk, bumping his average up to .303, and Justin Smoak also went two for four with a two bagger.

Toronto will now head to Minnesota for a four game series against the Twins over the weekend, Toronto's expected starters are Bumgarner, De La Rosa, Britton, and Duffy.

[JoeyKirby]

[JoeyKirby]

The Blue Jays keep on rolling along as they pick up their twenty fifth win on the year today as they finished up their series against the Minnesota Twins with a 13-2 win. Toronto lost the first game by a 9-3, but came back in the next three with wins by scores of 5-2 and 7-1, then the win in the finale today.

Struggling young lefty Danny Duffy started today for the Blue Jays and had a very solid seven innings of work as he allowed just two runs on three hits, no walks and he also sat down seven Twins batters via strikeout. Duffy's mistake came on a 1-2 changeup with a runner on to Prince Fielder who would take him yard. Duffy looked very promising today though as his fastball command was top notch and he flashed a plus, plus changeup for most of the game.

Struggling swingman Hector Noesi came on in the eighth to finish out the game and he did just that as he recorded two strikeouts in his two innings of work and did not allow a baserunner. This is hopefully a sign of good things to come for Hector, who has struggled mightily this year in the swingman/mop up role in the bullpen.

Five of Toronto's nine hitters in the lineup today came through with a multi-hit game in this one, the best being Eduardo Nunez who came through with a four for four day at the plate with three doubles. Fourth outfielder Lorenzo Cain had a good day as well as he went two for three with a walk and two doubles, while covering a ton of ground in center field like he always does.

Toronto will head home for a two game set against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday and Tuesday, the expected starters are Stephen Strasburg (4-0, 2.72 ERA) vs. Chris Carpenter (4-0, 2.01 ERA) and Madison Bumgarner (3-2, 2.06 ERA) vs. Ricky Romero (3-4, 3.46 ERA).

[JoeyKirby]

[JoeyKirby]

The Blue Jays finish up their brief two game series at home today against the Tampa Bay Rays with a victory as they fell behind early in the game, but battled back later on to win it 3-2 in the end. Toronto dropped the first game of the series in an ugly one as they lost 11-3.

Madison Bumgarner (4-2, 2.12 ERA) was the Blue Jays starter in the finale of the two game set today and would pick up the win. Madison got in trouble early as he allowed two runs in the first inning, but he would regain control and kept the Rays hitters at bay from there on out. All in all, Madison went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking none and striking out ten.

Setup man Kenley Jansen would come on in the eighth after Bumgarner's final inning and picked up a hold as he struck out two of three batters faced in his scorless inning of work. Aroldis Chapman came on for the save after that and he got into double digits for saves as he also struck out two in a scoreless outing.

Toronto's lineup had just one hitter with a multi-hit game today as backup infielder Eduardo Nunez went three for three with a double and a steal in his spot start against the left hander Ricky Romero. Dayan Viciedo went one for four in this one and he smacked a two run homer. Lorenzo Cain would add the other bit of offense on the day as he went one for four with a solo dinger.

Toronto will host the Yankees at home for the next two days in another two game set. The expected starters are Rubby De La Rosa (4-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. Ervin Santana (2-2, 3.97 ERA) and Zach Britton (5-1, 2.00 ERA) vs. Lane Lynn (0-2, 3.08 ERA).

[JoeyKirby]