​Jays 9, Giants 3. Before the game, I urged the Jays to put up more than a solitary run and they delivered, though I should have pressed the point earlier. The offense wasted no time in getting things rolling. In the second inning, three runs crossed the plate. Brandon Valenzuela led off with a single, and after an out, Sean Keys followed with another hit, a 108.5 mph liner. Then Jonatan Clase connected for a homer, a 362-foot shot that now lands him in 22 of the 30 MLB ballparks as a home run hitter.
The onslaught continued in the third inning with five more runs. Vladimir Guerrero started the inning with a single to the opposite field, setting the table. Kazuma Okamoto followed suit with a single, also to the opposite side. Valenzuela added another hit, this time to center, bringing in a run. A ground out by Daulton Varsho moved runners to second and third, and Sean Keys delivered again, singling to score both runners. Clase kept the bats hot with another single, placing runners on the corners. Andrés Giménez then singled home another run, and Ernie Clement capped the frame with a sac fly, bringing in the fifth run of the inning.
In the ninth, Clement led off with a single, and Lukes followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Vlad Guerrero then hit into a double play, which brought in a run, but the swing felt anticlimactic and not nearly as clean as the late-inning momentum suggested.
The team did have a five-inning stretch without a baserunner earlier, but the focus remains on the nine-run burst that powered the win. The Jays finished with 13 hits, a well-distributed attack. Clement led the way with three hits, while Valenzuela, Sean Keys, and Clase each collected two hits. Varsho was the clear outlier in the batting lineup, notching a hit but reaching base only once and posting a 102.7 mph lineout as well as a disappointing other at-bats, though that one lineout did carry a .650 expected batting average. Overall, the offense thrived with a 4-for-10 showing with runners in scoring position, marking a productive day at the plate.
On the mound, Spencer Miles started for Toronto but wasn’t sharp, allowing seven hits over four innings with only one strikeout. He managed to escape with just two earned runs despite the rough line. Patrick Corbin took the ball for Washington (or the other team if we’re tracking in a different context), giving up a run over 2.1 innings. He opened his stint by allowing a single and a double, the latter of which I felt should have been fielded by Nathan Lukes. The single appeared to drift just out of reach as Lukes played it a bit safe, and I still think he could have made a stronger effort to corral it. The double appeared to be just over Lukes’ head, and again, I thought a better attempt might have prevented it. In any case, Corbin yielded one run in his 2.1 frames.
Jeff Hoffman closed out the seventh with two outs, grabbing a strikeout to end the frame. Mason Fluharty worked a quick eighth, and Louis Varland came on for the ninth, needing 19 pitches to finish the inning. Still, that workload was more than I would have preferred, but he did not allow a baserunner, which is what matters in the end.
Defensively, the team showed improvement compared to yesterday’s rough outing, with sharply improved defense today and no walks issued by the pitching staff. The bullpen contributions were solid across the board, and the offense produced enough timely hits to break the game open when it counted.
Jays of the Day: Jonatan Clase, with a 0.25 win probability added (WPA) from his homer and early offensive impact, and Sean Keys, contributing 0.09 WPA with his continued two-hit effort. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. placed just behind them at -0.08 WPA, narrowly missing the top honors after finishing with some productive moments but also a couple of closer calls that didn’t go his way.
Looking ahead, the Jays have another day game on the schedule tomorrow, a 3:45 p.m. Eastern start. Dylan Cease brings a 5-4 record and a 2.79 ERA to the mound for the opposing team, while Logan Webb pitches for the Jays’ opponent with a 5-6 record and a 3.66 ERA. It would be nice to carry this momentum into that game, and perhaps we’ll see more offense from a lineup that clearly found its stride today. If the goal is improved search engine visibility and continued scoring, another solid offensive performance would certainly check that box.