If the bullpen blows a save in the seventh inning or later, the momentum of the game shifts.
The Toronto Blue Jays recently dropped both series against the San Diego Padres (home) and Seattle Mariners (away) by a combined score of 1-2. The back-to-back losses have kept them in a precarious third wild-card spot.
On the 25th, the Dodgers returned to Dodger Stadium after a nine-game road trip to play the Blue Jays in their first interleague series since 2019.메이저사이트
The NL West-leading Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Max Muncy’s RBI single in the first inning and Jason Heyward’s home run (No. 10) in the fourth. Starter Michael Grove scattered eight hits over 4.2 innings and struck out six in the hump to hold on for two runs.
The Blue Jays tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth on RBI singles by Kevin Kiermaier and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In the top of the eighth, cleanup hitter Matt Chapman lifted a 159-kilometre sinker from Dodgers reliever Brusdar Greterol over the right-centre wall for the first run of the game. Game 13.
The momentum seemed to shift to the Blue Jays. But manager John Schneider didn’t have a pitcher to match up with. The Blue Jays have two lefties in the bullpen. Hennessis Cabrera and Tim Mayza. Cabrera came on in the sixth and pitched one inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, right-hander Trevor Richard replaced Ima Garcia after he got Will Smith to ground out to shortstop. Garcia had faced four batters, striking out two. The substitution of Richardson was surprising as the next batter was Muncy, who had a single in the first inning and homered for the second straight game. Mayza was unavailable. He had thrown 20 pitches the day before against the Seattle Mariners.
With a 3-2 lead and a 2-1 count, Richardson threw a high changeup that was caught by a hot Muncy bat. Jung-Wol Woo tied the game with a home run (25th). After the home run, he allowed the tying run to score and came out of the inning with a blown save. Muncy is batting just .201.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy swings for a single up the middle to lead off the first inning. LA| AP
It wasn’t so much a failure of Schneider’s pitching as it was a failure of the bullpen to do its job. Fortunately, the Bulls capitalised on an error by Dodgers third baseman Chris Taylor to break a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 11th, scoring three runs on Dalton Bashaw’s RBI double and a pinch-hit single to win 6-3.
Closer Jordan Romano struck out three batters – James Outman, Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts – to earn his 28th save of the season.
