Chicago White Sox Series Recap
The Blue Jays have their first series win under their belt! They didn't win their first series last year until April 30th, so it's nice to see them get it out of the way early this time around.
The first game was a pitchers duel between Jaime Garcia and Reynaldo Lopez. Garcia looked really good and pounded the bottom of the strike zone. I think Martin is going to get a lot of days off after catching Garcia due to all the balls in the dirt he will have to block. Donaldson hit his first home run of the season and helped ease some fears people had about his dead arm affecting his bat. The big knock came in the 7th inning when Russell Martin hit a go-ahead 2-run home run. Aledmys Diaz added an insurance run with a home run in the 8th. Aside from the home runs the offence was mostly held in check. They had 4 hits, but also walked 4 times. The defence turned 3 double plays. I think this team will be among the league leaders in double plays because of 3 extreme groundball starters and a middle infield that is good at turning them.
The second game was the team's first offensive explosion. Every starter had a hit, except for Grichuk, and 6 players had multiple hits. The Jays pounded out 10 extra base hits and finished with 14 runs. J.A. Happ allowed 4 runs in 5.1 innings. The run total was high, but his 9/1 K/BB was a positive sign. Barnes, Axford,Clippard and Loup came on in relief, with the only run coming on a home run allowed by Clippard. Clippard gives up a lot of flyballs so don't be surprised when he gives up his fair share of home runs. So long as he keeps runners off the bases when the home runs are hit, they shouldn't hurt the team too much.
The Jays were going for the sweep in the final game, but came up short, falling 4-3. Sanchez pitched well through 6 innings, giving up 3 runs and striking out 7. Tepera gave up what ended up
being the game winning home run in the 8th inning. Aaron Loup came in for the top of the 9th and had a dominant inning to give the team a chance to come back in the 9th. Justin Smoak led the offence with 2 doubles. Pearce came in as a pinch hitter in the 6th and drove in a run then came around to score a run to tie the game. I think Pearce is going to excel this year as a lefty masher. Having a guy like him to come off the bench is going to be very valuable for Gibbons.
There are plenty of positives to take from this series. The offence is chugging along and grinding out runs. Travis, Morales, Grichuk and Martin have struggled, but the slack has been picked up elsewhere on the roster. Those 4 players have track records as capable bats and there will be times where one of them carries the offence while other players are slumping. The pitching staff has been fantastic this year. We haven't seen a starter get blown-out yet and the only time the bullpen has given up more than one run in a game was opening day.
