September 4: Recalled P Hayden Johns from AAA Durham. Assigned Ps Nick Anderson and Deivy Florido to AAA Durham.
As predicted, Johns was called up. Acquired from Texas in the Heston Kjerstad deal, Johns had a 4/33 BB/K ratio in 29 innings with Durham and had a 10 6 1 1 5 16 line in 8 outings with the Rangers earlier this year. Ultimately he's a starter though. Anderson and Florido cleared waivers and both accepted the assignments so they should be helping the first-place Bulls in the IL playoffs.
Game 1: The offense could only manage 4 hits, and Asa Lacy ran out of gas in the middle innings as the Jays beat the Rays 8-4. Down 1-0 going into the 5th, Lacy was touched for a 2-run HR by Adrian Hernandez and then a solo blast by Vlad Jr. back-to-back. He got through the inning and the leadoff man in the 6th reached on an error and he left with two on and 0 out, going 5 9 6 5 2 5. Hayden Johns came in and after getting a whiff, allowed a double to score the 2 Lacy runners and another double for one of his own but he stayed in and got through the next two innings going 3 2 1 1 0 4. Mitchell White gave up a homer in the 9th in his lone inning. Meanwhile the offense had 1 hit into the 7th, a Keibert Ruiz RBI double, but scored 2 in the 5th without a hit as Griffin Canning walked 4 straight with Brandon Marsh forcing in the run and Wander had a sac fly. Triston Casas hit #9 in the 7th and Tork had an RBI groundout in the 8th but it wasn't their night. The Yankees beat Baltimore behind a 3-HR game from Gleyber Torres, so the magic # drops to 20.
Game 2: The Rays exceeded their hit total of 4 last night in a 5-run first inning as they routed the Blue Jays 8-1. Vidal Brujan led off with a single, Wander Franco doubled him to 3rd, Brujan scored on a wild pitch, Judson Fabian singled in Franco, and Keston Hiura hit HR #22 with two on and it was 5-0. In the 6th, Anthony Rizzo hit his first Rays homer, and Hiura went back-to-back with him for his 2nd of the game (#23), and Rizzo singled in a run in the 7th. Matt Manning (11-6) got the start and was effective but wild, going 6 4 1 1 5 7, Ben Bowden had a 1-2-3 inning and Austin Vernon bounced back from his terrible debut in Boston to throw 2 innings with only 1 hit allowed, 0 walks and 3 whiffs, including Vlad Jr on a nasty pitch. Baltimore pulled out a 9th inning win so the magic # is now 19.
Game 3: Shane McClanahan was on his game today, and the offense did just enough in a 4-3 win. Mac was dealing, and except for a 500+ ft HR from Vlad Jr (#52 for him) shut down the Jays to the tune of 7 4 1 1 1 8. McClanahan is now 15-5, 3.72 and is the first AL pitcher to 200 strikeouts. The bats struck early against one-time nemesis Jordan Romano, back with the team he hurt the Rays with. Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run and Bramdon Perez had an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, and Alec Bohm went deep for #6 in the 2nd to make it 3-0. Bohm would later double and triple but missed his chance for the cycle by striking out in the 8th. After Vlad's HR got Toronto within 3-1, nothing much happened until the 8th when Liam Hendriks took over and got a double play to finish that inning and in the bottom of the frame Wander Franco had a sac fly for an insurance run. That run proved key when Jasseel De La Cruz, pitching for the first time in 11 days, looked the rust and gave up a couple of runs before whiffing Ryan Noda with the tying run on 2nd to end the game and still get save #25. The Orioles lost to the Yankees so the magic # drops to 17.
Team record: 93-42. Next up: 3 games at home vs those Orioles, so we won't have to scoreboard-watch.
And how about the AL pitching leaderboard?:
Might have to skip a Mac start so Glasnow can win the pitching triple crown.