More of the same broken record.

Runners left in scoring position and all-around poor run production led to the Jays dropping the first game of this Wild Card battle against the Minnesota Twins. The same drum the Jays have beaten all year. which is more hits and more base runners than their opponents, has finally bled into the postseason leading to the 3-1 loss. 

Yes, all of Minnesota’s run production came off the bat of Royce Lewis’ 2 home runs that were surrendered by Gausman, but that is not what lost the game. The inability to score runs with ducks on the pond has been and will continue to be the issue for the Jays heading into this do-or-die Game 2.

Sure, we can look back to the 4th inning and point fingers at the base running. While most say it was a 50/50 call with Bo rounding third and going home, the fact of the matter is he ignored the red light from third base coach Luis Rivera. You would like to give the benefit of the doubt to Bichette after Kirk hits a weak bouncer to third that was mis-played. However, with Bichette looking over his shoulder and making the decision to round for home, Rivera had a much better view on the play. Add in Correa’s incredible fielding, this should have been a bases-loaded situation.

Then again, if Bo does hold up, that brings Biggio up to bat, to which I still would rather see one of our All-Stars in Whit Merrifield practice his patience at the plate. Enough with the lefty love, let’s put our best lineup on the field, who says no?

I digress. It all comes back to our poor run production. You can’t blame Gausman. The majority of his 9 losses and 10 no-decisions were due to a lack of run support. The bullpen did their job without giving up a run. Minus the shaky 8th with Hicks, who still managed to keep it a 2 run game, the bullpen made very quick work of this Twins squad.

When we drill down into what’s happening with the lack of run production, it felt like players overcompensating when the moment really mattered. 8th inning for example, Vlady leads off with a first pitch double. He shortened his swing, made the necessary adjustments and gave the Jays the jolt they needed. It was then followed up by Bichette looking absolutely foolish at the plate, striking out, followed by a typical Biggio strikeout (looking) and a Kirk groundout to first.

I’m not trying to take away the good night Bichette had at the plate, but it was overshadowed by some of the efforts to put this Jays squad on his back and produce, rather than handling the game and the situation one pitch and one base at a time. In the 8th, the only focus is to advance Guerrero at all costs, not play hero ball.

@downbytwo

BACK NEXT WEEK Took a couple weeks off but we’re back at it with more live Argos coverage and some BIG announcements coming up soon. 👀 STAY TUNED 👀 #cfl #argos #alouettes #clubdub #cflgameday #torontotiktok #torontolife

♬ 500lbs – Lil Tecca

As much as it pains me to say this, I do not have a whole lot of confidence in the Jays turning things around in Game 2. This is a squad who won 4 of their last 9 games to finish the regular season. They limped into the playoffs, with a lot of help from the AL West mind you, and didn’t show any signs of improvement in the opening matchup against this underrated Twins squad.

Here are the picks for tomorrow. As much as I hate betting against the boys in blue, it’s hard to put my money on them. We should see a lot of the same as we did yesterday, with a strong outing from Berrios against his former team.

Twins Moneyline (-127)
Under 8 Runs (-120)
Jose Berrios Over 5.5 Strikeouts (+120)