When the bullpen blows a save in the bottom of the seventh inning or later, the momentum of the game shifts.
The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their last two series against the San Diego Padres (home) and Seattle Mariners (away). The back-to-back losses keep them in a precarious third wild-card spot.
On Aug. 25 (ET), the Dodgers wrapped up a nine-game road trip and hosted the Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium for their first interleague series since 2019.
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.카지노사이트
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 third baseman Matt Chapman lifted a 159-mph sinker from Dodgers reliever Brusdar Greterol over the right-center field 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 him after Ima Garcia got Will Smith to ground out to shortstop. Garcia had faced four batters, striking out two. The substitution of Richardson was surprising because 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 unleashed a high changeup that was caught by a hot Muncy bat. Jung-Wol Woo tied the game with a home run (#25). 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 a bad pitching decision on Schneider’s part, but rather a failure of the bullpen to do its job. Fortunately, the Bulls capitalized on an error by Dodgers third baseman Chris Taylor to break a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 11th inning, scoring three runs on Dalton Bashaw’s RBI double and a pinch-hit single to win 6-3.
Closer Jordan Romo struck out three batters – James Outman, Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts – to earn his 28th save of the season.