Springer and Chapman Power Jays to a 6-2 win

Any more Apple TV games and we’re rampaging. The game itself, if you could see it, was good. In hopefully the last game of the season, which they have to play without a starter, the bullpen did their job. The offense came up with the big clutch hits that have eluded them so many times this year. Overall, it was what you want from a team in the stretch run. Let’s do it again tomorrow.

Trevor Richards served as the opener tonight and did his job hitting the side. It was a little surprising to see him back out there after being bombed out on clean up last afternoon but nice to see he’s getting back on his feet.

Julian Merryweather was second on the bill. It only took him five pitches to carve Baltimore’s 3-4-5 hitter. He had to work a little harder in the third and struggled a bit against his command as he passed Austin Hayes, but he got a double cue ball from Jorge Mateo to take care of it.

For some reason, John Schneider called for Yusei Kikuchi at this point. I think if he’s on the list he needs to serve, but that just begs the question. I don’t blame the player, Kikuchi seems like a good guy trying his best and his continued failure is clearly weighing heavily on him. I blame the manager and front office for burning meaningful games to justify an investment already lost. Anyway, he gave a triple and a homer to the first two batters he faced, laying the Jays down 2-1. It was clear that, as is sometimes the case with him, he didn’t trust his fastball. The ball that Cederic Mullins tripled with was the sixth straight slider he’d seen. He was better in the fourth, aided by a fairly generous low zone, with two strikeouts and a ground out for a clean inning.

Jordan Lyles got the start for Baltimore. He could see a Vladimir Guerrero jr. evade. Single in the first, but the Jays got on the board in the second with a solo home run from Matt Chapman. They again threatened a Danny Jansen double in the third but failed to redeem it. They broke through on the fifth. Chapman started with a single and Raimel Tapia, followed by Working Walk. The next two batters failed to advance them, but George Springer hit a two-out homer into left power alley and put the Jays back 4-2 ahead.

After the offensive regained the lead late in the fifth, Schneider decided it was probably time to try to win the game and challenged Tim Mayza. He played a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.

Baltimore decided five innings was enough from Lyles and went to Joey Krehbiel. Bo Bichette walked away with a single and stole second place. He could have saved himself the trouble, however, as two batters later, Chapman brought him home with a two-run homer and extended the Jays’ lead to 6-2.

Mayza made way in the seventh Adam Cimber. He used the whole field, handing off a flyball to Anthony Santander that Springer had to run nice on the wall in the middle and another to Ryan Mountcastle that was just a little flatter but didn’t allow a run. Mike Baumann pitched the bottom half of the inning and it was similarly uneventful, with just a Jansen single.

On the eighth, the Jays called Anthony Bass. He hit roughed odor thrashing, which is always nice, but got into some kind of jam with a walk to Austin Hays and a groundball single to Mateo, but escaped with a little help from Chapman and made a nice running catch on a Mullins pop- out and Bichette back to center with a catch on an Adleyrutschman liner.

Baumann stayed to finish it off for the Orioles. He got ground outs from Bichette and Hernandez, and after hitting Cavan Biggio (who came on defensively for Springer in the seventh), he hit Chapman with a highly questionable high fastball. The zone was a little improvised throughout the night, although it didn’t feel like it clearly helped either team.

Yimi Garcia was tapped to shut it down. He took a solo shot at Gunnar Henderson to make it 6-3 but otherwise went about business.

Jay of the day: Merryweather (.105) was the only pitcher to have the number, but he really accepts on behalf of the entire bullpen (except for the guy below). Springer (.352) and Chapman (.275) did the offensive work.

Fewer: Kikuchi (-0.168), Bradley (-0.109)

We’ll be back tomorrow at 3:07pm ET. Jose Berrios (10-5, 5.07) will toe the rubber for Toronto to start its ERA again with a four this season. He’ll be up against Kyle Bradish (3-6, 5.01) and hopefully the Jays can get his ERA back to starting with a six.