One series in the books and the post all-star break could not have gone much better for the Blue Jays.
Yusei Kikuchi started for the Blue Jays, allowing Arizona to score a run in each of the first two frames. The D’backs had him on the ropes, but showed no inclination to deliver a knockout punch.
In contrast, the Blue Jays were more than willing to pounce. And once again, it came courtesy of Danny Jansen.
Looking back on this four-game win streak, it was Jansen’s two-out ninth-inning home run in Detroit in the final game before the all-star break that seemed to ignite the club.
The Jays bats, starting with Jansen’s homer in Detroit, seem to be making a habit of saving the best for last. In Toronto’s series-opening 7-2 win, five runs were produced in the seventh inning. On Saturday, they scored twice in the eight to solidify a 5-2 victory.
Four more scored in the eighth on Sunday … and this time they needed almost all of them.
Mitch White came on in the ninth to preserve a five-run lead, but was pulled with the bases loaded and two out.
Erik Swanson relieved White and promptly gave up a three-run double to Ketel Marte, bringing the tying run to the plate, but got Emmanuel Rivera on a routine fly ball to centre field to earn the save.
YUSEI WHAT?
A portent of how Kikuchi’s day would unfold came right from the jump when Marte, Arizona’s leadoff hitter turned on the game’s first pitch and drilled it. Luckily for Kikuchi, it stayed in the park for long, loud at the warning track in left centre.
It didn’t get much better. Kikuchi hit two batters, threw two wild pitches and was responsible for one of the team’s two errors.
Pitching coach Pete Walker needed to pay a visit after the lefty threw 25 balls and just 22 strikes.
To his credit, Kikuchi did settle down for the next couple of innings, But his day ended with two outs and one on in the fifth, and the score tied 2-2, after the Jays counted twice in the second.
LOVE THAT GLOVE
In his return to Toronto for the first time since his trade to Arizona, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was showered with appreciation and warmth.
On Sunday, with a lefty starting, Gurriel moved up in the order and batted third, while taking his normal spot in left field, an area he knows intimately from his playing days in Toronto.
He made a great diving catch in the bottom of the first to rob Matt Chapman of a hit, potentially for extra bases.
In the top of the third, he led off the inning with a hard-hit ball to left, not far from where he recorded the out on the Chapman ball. Size may have played a factor as Whit Merrifield was unable to handle the ball that went off his glove for a single.
Gurriel, who was then erased on a double play, wound up going 2-for-3 with a run scored.
SANTIAGO TRAIN
He wasn’t in the lineup for either of the first two games, but Santiago Espinal made an impact in the series finale.
Batting eighth in the order and playing at second base, Espinal recorded hits in his first two at-bats, knocking in a run and scoring another.
On his second hit, Espinal tried to stretch a single into a double, but was easily tagged out at second.
JAY IN BLUE JAY
Veteran Jay Jackson was asked to record the final out in the fifth when Kikuchi was given the hook and did his job by inducing Gurriel to groundout to third.
In Arizona’s next at-bats, Jackson, who was credited with the win, retired the first two hitters before he was relieved by Tim Mayza, who made a dandy defensive play to record the third out.
Taking a comebacker between the mound and first base from NL rookie-of-the-year contender Corbin Carroll, Mayza had to flip the ball to Vlad Guerrero Jr., directly out of his glove to get the speedy Diamondback by half a step.
