Blue Jays fall victim to classic Fenway night in game not short on drama

BOSTON — Nothing to see right here: simply one other extraordinarily regular one between the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Twenty-two hits, 13 runs, 9 pitchers, 5 homers, two replay opinions, and an implausible error. A 3-run Red Sox lead constructed brick-by-brick over the primary 4 innings, just for the Blue Jays to topple it with a bat-around fifth to go up by three themselves. A Red Sox comeback to tie it within the fifth and sixth, earlier than a game-winning solo shot by a part-time catcher off one in every of Toronto’s finest relievers within the eighth.

Ultimately, it was a third-straight Blue Jays loss, 7-6, on a traditional Fenway evening.

“This is a good environment to play in. I think our guys like it. It’s a tough environment to play in. But it seems like no lead is safe. And you’ve got to really value 27 outs,” mentioned Blue Jays supervisor John Schneider. “And they’re a good-hitting team. They’ve been doing that for the majority of the year. And I think when you make mistakes, you pay the price. So, you tip your cap.”

Where to start? Might as nicely parse Yusei Kikuchi’s evening, because the left-hander struggled to hold ahead the momentum he’d sustained by means of his final three outings during which he allowed solely two runs over 17.2 innings. He allowed 5 over 4.1 Tuesday. In a double rarity for Kikuchi, he didn’t stroll a batter whereas placing out solely two.

“Pitches in the middle zone,” Schneider mentioned. “He had really good stuff. But his slider, it was weird, it was almost a little bit too hard. In the third inning there it got into the 85-87 range and had a little bit of separation from his fastball. I think it was just that early — he was in the middle of the zone.”

With his off-speed stuff not working the best way he needed it to, Kikuchi leaned closely on his fastball, which the Red Sox have been fast to catch on to. He gave up loads of exhausting contact — and 5 of his 9 hits — off heaters that have been too typically left up and over the plate. Alex Verdugo doubled twice off Kikuchi, whereas Christian Arroyo and Masataka Yoshida each left the yard.

“Breaking balls weren’t working as effectively today, so, I had to throw the fastball. And I feel like the Boston Red Sox were able to zero in on that fastball,” Kikuchi mentioned. “With the changeup, they were fouling it off. And I tried to nibble a little bit too much. So, I feel like that was the downside today.”

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Still, Kikuchi saved the sport in test till the fifth, when the Blue Jays strung collectively a collection of hits off Red Sox starter Tanner Houck, together with a 406-foot Daulton Varsho homer to right-centre.

The Blue Jays have been seeing Houck’s sinker nicely all evening, placing it in play 10 occasions at a median exit velocity of 95.7-m.p.h. That’s the pitch Varsho drove 334-feet into the alternative subject alley for a double an inning previous to his homer. In the span of these two plate appearances, Varsho, who entered the evening in a 9-for-74 funk, equalled the quantity of extra-base hits he had in his final 21 video games.

“He eliminated a little bit of his toe tap. A little bit more of a traditional gather. That kind of freed him up a little bit in terms of being able to use his athleticism and swing,” Schneider mentioned. “And he swung at the right pitches, as well.”

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But that was the final time the Blue Jays would even threaten, because the Red Sox confronted just one over the minimal from the sixth by means of the ninth. Toronto’s finest alternatives to attain got here a lot sooner than that, as Houck struggled to land his slider over the primary three innings. But after the bat-around fifth, Boston pitching held Toronto’s offence to solely two singles over the ultimate 4 frames.

“It was a weird night. I thought we were swinging at the right pitches, trying to get [Houck] up in the zone with that sinker,” Schneider mentioned. “We just missed a couple.”

Meanwhile, the Red Sox chipped away at Toronto’s lead — or, extra precisely, Connor Wong did. He tied the sport taking an 0-1 Zach Pop sinker 368-feet to the highest of the Green Monster within the sixth, then gained it by lobbing a 2-1 Erik Swanson fastball over the Monster within the eighth.

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Swanson had been one of many membership’s most reliable relievers, pitching to a 1.32 ERA over 13.2 innings getting into the evening. But he fell behind, 2-1, left a fastball up, and watched Wong launch it 353-feet to left. It would’ve been a homer at Fenway, Minute Maid Park, and nowhere else.

But whereas Wong was little question helped by one in every of MLB’s most unusual environments, each pitches he hit out may have been situated higher by the Blue Jays relievers.

“It just comes down to execution,” Schneider mentioned. “No matter who you’re playing, no matter when it is, you’ve got to execute. And tonight we just didn’t do that.”

And there was loads of different Fenway enjoyable alongside the best way. Kevin Kiermaier made a preposterous, cross-body throw on the run in entrance of the Monster within the third, nabbing Rob Refsnyder at second on what ought to have been a double. Think Patrick Mahomes scrambling to the sideline earlier than hitting Travis Kelce in flight on the far hashmark 30 yards downfield.

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In the fifth, after Kikuchi allowed three of 4 batters to succeed in, Pop entered and received an Enrique Hernandez comebacker that would’ve began an inning-ending double play. But the Blue Jays reliever opted as a substitute to flip the ball to first for just one out. A batter later, the Red Sox plated a run with a groundball single.

“Yeah, he could have [attempted the double play.] In real time, we thought so,” Schneider mentioned. “The game can speed up — especially here sometimes. And I think if he had to do it again, he probably would have at least taken a look at second.”

A less expensive miscue got here within the sixth, as George Springer overran a routine fly ball that would have ended an inning however resulted within the batter reaching on an error. As the ball bounced out of play, Springer gave his teammates a baffled look and a loud, “Wow!” earlier than Yimi Garcia stranded the runner with a strikeout.

“That’s just a weird play. Georgie’s been there, done that. You don’t see that very often from him,” Schneider mentioned. “It began approach foul and actually got here again. So, you sort of chalk it as much as a type of issues.”

One of these issues on a type of nights at Fenway.

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