Toronto came into interleague play looking to extend their 4 game winning streak to 5 but such just wasn’t the case as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Blue Jays 10-3. The loss increases the amount of wins the Jays will need to get to the .500 mark from 1 win to 2. Toronto’s record now stands at 21-23 and despite the loss they are still in 4th place in the AL East over the New York Yankees.
The offense seemed to sputter its way through the game only getting 9 hits, 1 of which was for an extra base. Only 3 runs were produced, which with some solid pitching it might have been enough to at least make this a game, but unfortunately the pitching staff had a very difficult time getting Phillie batters out which shows in the score. Alex Rios had a solid game for the Jays going 2-for-4, including a double with 1 RBI and a run scored. His batting average is now at .260 and his RBI total sits at 17. Scott Rolen also had a nice game going 1-for-3 with 1 RBI and a walk. His batting average now stands at .301 and his RBI total is 10. Marco Scutaro also contributed with an RBI and hit 1-of-5 bringing his batting average to .245. Not much else to speak of offensively as the game was pretty much out of reach after 3 innings when the scored read 8-0.
Pitching, if you can call it that… Was pretty shaky AT BEST. David Purcey was given the start to begin interleague play and didn’t exactly impress with his showing. He only made it through 3 innings allowing 5 hits, 8 runs, all earned, 4 walks, 0 Ks and 2 Homers. He was given the loss for the game because when he left his club was already in the hole 8 runs. The loss brings his record to 0-1 and his ERA is at an ugly 11.05. The good news is that he is still young and it’s also good that these sorts of things are happening early in the season. We definitely don’t want to see these types of performance when the Jays are making a run towards the playoffs. Too bad for us is that the poor pitching didn’t end with Purcey. Jesse Litsch also worked 3 innings allowing an equal 5 hits. He did however only give up 2 runs, 1 homer and he struck out 4.
We’ll see if Toronto can recover from this beating and try to get back to their winning ways on Saturday in game 2 vs. the Phils. They were actually making their way up the AL Easy ladder before hitting this speed bump. The Jays are now just 2.5 games back from catching the O’s who stand in the 3rd place spot.
P.S. If you are a fantasy baseball type listen to this stat line: Jayson Werth, Outfielder for the Phillies, hit 3-for-4 with 8 RBI and 3 runs scored. As you may have guessed, all 3 of his hits went yard. Werth took his RBI total from 18 to 26 in 1 game!
