Games 11–13 (TOR @ BOS) | Gas
If you’re the Blue Jays, who is your ace? This sounds like a strange question, but you really have multiple solid, high-quality pitchers that can carry your team with good starts.
To be fair, the first Boston series of the year for the Blue Jays didn’t exactly get off to a good start — in game number one, Zach Collins continued his hot streak with a second inning solo home run, giving Toronto a quick 1–0 lead. However, that was all the offense could muster against the Red Sox bullpen, as the relievers for Boston put together a great final thirteen outs.
The good news for Toronto? Yusei Kikuchi put together a good five innings, and only allowed one earned run in his second start of the season. In an overall low-scoring affair, the Red Sox came out on top thanks to a Trevor Story RBI double and a Connor Wong sacrifice fly. Just like that, game one went to Boston.
For the Blue Jays, game two was José Berríos’ return to dominant form — picking up the win thanks to six innings, giving up just a single earned run along the way. At the plate, it was the depth players that came up big for Toronto — a home run from Raimel Tapia (yes, really) helped the Blue Jays to a 6–1 victory to even the series.
The bad news from a big win? George Springer was hit by a pitch, forcing him out of the game. For a Toronto team that’s already missing their primary catcher and one of their biggest bats in Teoscar Hernandez, a George Springer being out of the lineup wouldn’t be positive.
Thankfully, Springer’s x-rays came back negative, and following a short rest, he was available off the bench for the third and final match of the series. And in game three, Blue Jays fans has the pleasure of watching Kevin Gausman execute an absolute masterclass on pitching.
Gausman truly seemed to get better the more he pitched. His hardest pitches actually came in the eighth inning, and Gausman went eight innings plus a batter, before Charlie Montoyo came in to call on Jordan Romano to execute, after a bit of drama, his seventh straight save on the early season. A 3–2 win for Toronto, and the Blue Jays win a big series against Boston to set the tone heading into Houston for three against the defending American League Champion Astros.
