Blue Jay way: Toronto defeats Oakland for 11th straight win
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
Instead of calling this the “daily wrap up,” we may have to change the name to the “daily Toronto Blue Jays recap.” Toronto picked up its 11th straight win Thursday, beating the Oakland Athletics 4-2.
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As has been the case during the club’s recent streak, the pitching was excellent. Mark Buehrle tossed seven strong innings, giving up two runs on seven hits. Buehrle kept the A’s off the board until the eighth, when he finally appeared to lose some steam.
With the performance, Buehrle lowered his ERA to 3.31. If he can maintain that pace, it would be his lowest ERA since 2005, when he won the World Series with the White Sox. The Blue Jays are obviously hoping for a similar result.
The usual suspects, surprisingly, didn’t get it done on offense. Instead, Ryan Goins played the hero. Goins struck early, hammering an 89 mph fastball from Jesse Chavez out to right in the second inning. The hit gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead, and that was all they would need to win the game.
With the victory, the club improved to 64-52. They lead the American League East by a half a game over the New York Yankees.
CUBS STAY HOT
The Blue Jays current hot streak seems to have taken some attention away from the Chicago Cubs. The Cubbies are the second hottest team in baseball, picking up a 9-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. The victory marked the team’s seventh straight win.
The Cubs were led by their youngsters during the game. Kyle Schwarber smashed two home runs, and later added an RBI single. He finished 3 for 4, with two runs scored and four RBI.
Jorge Soler and Anthony Rizzo also got involved. Soler opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second inning, and Rizzo homered in the fifth.
Rizzo has terrorized Milwaukee lately.
With the win, Chicago improved to 65-48. They own the third best record in the National League, yet are in third place in their division.
ROYALS MELT DOWN LATE
The Kansas City Royals bullpen has been one of the league’s best over the past two seasons. That’s why it was so surprising to see the team melt down during Thursday’s 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
With the club clinging to a four run lead entering the eighth, victory seemed all but assured.
Yeah, though the stat above refers to the ninth inning, and not the eighth, it still seemed like a pretty safe lead.
Amazingly, the Royals couldn’t hold on. Wade Davis, who hadn’t pitched since August 6 due to a back issue, looked rusty his first time back on the mound. Davis wound up giving up two runs during the inning.
The club made it to the ninth with a two run lead, but Greg Holland couldn’t hold it. Holland was smashed for four runs during the frame. He failed to record an out. Holland’s ERA jumped to 4.15 following the performance.
With the loss, Kansas City dropped to 68-46 on the year.
NATIONALS CONTINUE SLIDE
The Washington Nationals better get things together soon. The club lost another game Thursday, falling to the San Francisco Giants 3-1.
Pitcher Stephen Strasburg ran into some trouble early, giving up two runs in the first inning, but managed to recover to toss five scoreless frames after a tough first.
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The offense was the bigger issue. Washington racked up just five hits during the contest. Anthony Rendon, Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond went a combined 0 for 13 at the plate.
Even if Washington goes on a run, it doesn’t look like they’ll match their lofty preseason projections.
Vegas had the Nationals pegged for the highest preseason win total at 93. They are 58-56, need to go 35-13 in remaining games to get there.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 14, 2015
With the loss, Washington is now 4.5 games out of first in the National League East.
Want to see more from Thursday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
