Game 129 – Lefty Mashers

I did not expect this kind of game w/the LH Lester opposing the Jays. This is the same Lester who 1-hit the Jays through 8 innings at the end of April. You combine that w/the struggles all year the Jays have had w/lefties it doesn’t spell Lester leaving after 2.1 IP giving up 7 runs on 8 hits.

The Jays got a 2-run HR from Wells in the 1st to start if off. They added 1 more in the 2nd before 5 of the first 6 Jays got hits in the 3rd to chase Lester. Wells had a big day w/4 hits, 2 of them HR’s, he drove in 3 and scored 4 runs.

Mench did what the Jays could have used more of this season and that is mash lefties. Mench had a pair of 2B’s off Lester (added a 1B later off the Sox pen). It is not like Mench holds the keys to the Jays offence but he has not hit lefties close to his career numbers. The most glaring stat is that Mench has 0 HR this season.

It was a nice start from Litsch shutting out BOS through 6 and giving up just 3 hits. The concern was he walked 3 (and hit one) and had to throw 105 pitches. The BB I really had issue with was Crisp in the 4th inning. By that point the Jays were already up 7 so there is no excuse to not just go after the hitters. Litsch’s other 2 walks came in the 1st and 2nd so at least the game was still close but given Litsch relies a lot on his control that is still not a good thing.

I’m not sure why League was in this game given the huge lead and the fact he just worked 2 days ago. Both Ryan and Carlson could use the work so they made sense. The 3 did combine to complete the shutout giving up just 1 hit.

I thought McDonald should have been bunting in the 2nd after the leadoff 2B. Normally I’m not big on bunting so early but they already had a 2-run lead and this was bunting a runner from 2nd to 3rd not 1st to 2nd, where you would still need a hit to score the runner. Plus McDonald is just that bad of a hitter. Cito did have McDonald attempt to bunt at 0-1, but McDonald failed to execute. It worked out in the end though as McDonald got him over w/a ground ball.

Boy, Ellsbury does not have much of an arm, it certainly does not fit in RF. Twice the Jays picked up SF’s on fly balls hit to medium RF and both times the runner at 3rd was Mench who isn’t the most fleet of foot.

Here are the stats:
Adv: McDonald (2), Lind (3)
P-Adv: Lester, Smith
NAdv: Ortiz, Barajas (7)
P-NAdv: Lester, Litsch (6)
WG: McDonald (10), Wells (6)