On Bark at the Ballpark night at the Oakland Coliseum, the Blue Jays unleashed their own Bassitt hound.
Toronto will go for a series sweep Wednesday with the chance of returning home with a 5-1 mark and a wild-card spot firmly in its hands.
Fans were able to take their four-legged companions into the ballpark as part of MLB’s dog-friendly initiative.
The sound of barking far outweighed the sounds of applause on a night when hitting went to the dogs, for most of the night that is.
Waldichuk, a lefty, issued three free passes in six complete innings.
Neal, a righty, would walk three in one inning.
The Jays batted around to score six runs in the seventh, more than enough to support Bassitt.
Oakland finally got to Bassitt in the home half of the seventh to score one run.
The Jays had been waiting to pounce on an inferior opponent and it arrived Tuesday.
Bassitt was lights out, the offence exploded in the seventh and the Jays’ defence was good in the team’s most complete and most dominant game on its current trip.
There’s no reason why a series sweep won’t be produced Wednesday given the obvious difference in talent between the A’s and Jays.
A three-game weekend series against Kansas City will follow at Rogers Centre, three more winnable games against a weak opponent.
The Rangers will be town once the Royals leave town.
By then, the wild-card picture will look differently.
The Jays provide a glimpse of what is possible when an outing such as Bassitt’s night plays out and when the offence explodes like it did in the seventh inning.
Still, it was against the A’s once Waldichuk’s evening expired.
First it was Davis Schneider making quite the impression when the Blue Jays called him up for a weekend series in Boston that turned epic.
Ernie Clement hasn’t earned the Babe moniker, but he hasn’t looked out of place either, save for a few errors at short.
In the second inning of Tuesday night’s game, he fielded a high chopper before he threw to the bag at second where Schneider executed the pivot and throw to record the 6-4-3 double play.
The game began when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit into a double play following a leadoff single by George Springer.
The news surrounding Bo Bichette continues to improve as he recovers from a right quad strain that landed the stud shortstop on the injured list.
Bichette accompanied the team on its road trip, which began in Colorado before shifting to the Bay Area.
Once again, he was able to field groundballs, ran and took part in batting practice.
Without Bichette, the Jays have cobbled together a lineup to compensate for the loss of the team’s incumbent No. 2 hitter.
Schneider was in the No. 2 hole Tuesday night after the Jays did not have Schneider in Monday’s lineup when Cavan Biggio batted in Bichette’s slot.
Biggio started in right field Tuesday night.
INJURY UPDATES
1B/DH Brandon Belt continues to be out because of a stomach virus; during the team’s current trip, which wraps up Wednesday, Belt was a late pre-game scratch when his back tightened up … One-time Oakland A’s third baseman Matt Chapman, whom the Jays placed on the 10-day injured list with a right middle finger sprain on the same day as Bichette, has resumed taking groundballs and playing catch; the catch is that Chapman has not been cleared to swing the bat … Danny Jansen’s status should be made much clearer at some point Wednesday when he’s scheduled to visit a hand specialist in Pennsylvania; the hard-luck catcher took a foul tip off his throwing hand in Colorado; an initial diagnosis revealed a fracture in his middle finger; with the Jays scheduled to have an off day Thursday, it’s possible no definitive and official word on Jansen’s status moving forward won’t be known until manager John Schneider’s pre-game availability Friday night.
