Blue Jays keep winning, top Orioles, 5-2
Saturday’s game between the Blue Jays and the Orioles featured a couple of things that have been common at Sahlen Field, both this year and last… the Blue Jays hitting home runs and T.J. Zeuch throwing strikes and getting ground balls. Toronto defeated Baltimore in impressive fashion, 5-2, for their
Saturday’s game between the Blue Jays and the Orioles featured a couple of things that have been common at Sahlen Field, both this year and last… the Blue Jays hitting home runs and T.J. Zeuch throwing strikes and getting ground balls.
Toronto defeated Baltimore in impressive fashion, 5-2, for their fourth consecutive win and 17th in 25 games in downtown Buffalo. Zeuch threw five shutout innings and Cavan Biggio and Randal Grichuk went deep to keep the Blue Jays on the winning track ahead of Sunday’s regular season finale.
With this victory added on, the club’s .680 winning pct. at home this year is currently the Blue Jays franchise record for a single-season, slightly ahead of the 54-26 (.675) mark they had at Exhibition Stadium in 1985.
With Matt Shoemaker getting his postseason prep done in a bullpen session rather than a game, Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo turned to Zeuch for the former Bisons’ fourth career big league start. Never one to strike out a lot of batters, the sinker-baller did what he does best in throwing the ball across the plate and using the defense behind him.
In five shutout frames, Zeuch induced 11 groundball outs. Of the five hits he allowed to Orioles batters, two were infield singles and another was a double grounded down the third base line. The righty needed just 75 pitches to get through his five frames and tossed just 27 of them outside of the zone.
ZOINKS 😱@TJZeuch threw five scoreless innings tonight! pic.twitter.com/B00ydJjKvx
— Toronto Blue Jays - x (@BlueJays) September 27, 2020
Zeuch didn’t walk or strikeout a batter, becoming just the second Blue Jays pitcher to ever throw five innings without either or a run against. The other was another former Bison, Aaron Laffey, on September 25, 2012.
Zeuch didn’t get the win on Saturday though because the Blue Jays didn’t get a hit while he was in the game. Baltimore’s John Means struck out nine in six innings and didn’t allow a hit until Biggio homered with two gone in the bottom of the sixth.
Biggi with a no-no doubter 😉 pic.twitter.com/xMSYkjsE0B
— Toronto Blue Jays - x (@BlueJays) September 27, 2020
Toronto used the longball again in the seventh to build their lead. After Teoscar Hernandez was hit by a pitch and the Orioles booted a potential doubleplay grounder from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Grichuk went the opposite field and just snuck a home run into the right field corner about the 325-foot maple leaf marker.
The blast was Grichuk’s 12th of the season and seventh this year against the Orioles.
He's 100% that G R I C H 😎
— Toronto Blue Jays - x (@BlueJays) September 27, 2020
💣 @RGrich15 💣 pic.twitter.com/LtdzasmFES
If there was any negative to come out of Saturday night’s game is that a pair of Blue Jays players were removed from the game. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was taken out after his strikeout in the fifth as a precaution because he fouled a pitch off his left foot during the at-bat. Reliever Ross Stripling left the contest after the fourth batter he faced in the seventh inning because Orioles’ right fielder D.J. Stewart hit a comebacker off his right leg before Alejandro Kirk fielded the ball for a rare 1-2-3 putout.
The great Sahlen Field season comes to an end on Sunday as the Blue Jays wrap up the season with a 3:07 p.m. first pitch against the Orioles.