The Toronto Blue Jays (7-8) triumphed over the Colorado Rockies (4-11) by a score of 5-3 on Saturday’s afternoon contest. The Blue Jays are now within one victory of reaching the .500 mark, which they’ll attempt to do on Sunday at 1:37 PM EST. Toronto received nearly 4 quality innings from the highly-touted P Yariel Rodriguez. To add onto this, OF Daulton Varsho homered for the second time in as many games, with this dinger being a grand slam that proved to be the game-winning swing for the Blue Jays.
Rodriguez Effective in Blue Jays Debut
Yariel Rodriguez’s outing was stellar, considering the lack of Spring Training outings that he participated in prior to the 2024 season. Rodriguez went 3.2 innings of 4-hit baseball while only giving up 1 earned run and striking out 6 Rockies hitters. The 27-year-old also tallied 12 swings-and-misses, with more than half coming from his electric slider. Rodriguez’s slider has an excellent spin rate with a mark of nearly 3000 revolutions per minute (RPM). The four-seam fastball was also a quality weapon for Rodriguez, as the fastball sat around 95 MPH (97.6 MPH max) and generated 4 whiffs to assist the right-hander in his outing.
The at-bat where Yariel Rodriguez showcases his skills is in the 4th inning in a plate appearance against veteran Kris Bryant. Rodriguez started the AB with a low-and-away slider that broke off the plate, a nice pitch that Bryant simply didn’t chase. Then, the righty goes the complete opposite, hurling a 93.8 MPH splitter with horizontal break in towards Bryant. The former-MVP swung through the splitter, evening the count at 1-1. After two pitches down in the zone, Rodriguez changed Bryant’s eye level with a 95 MPH high-and-in, forcing Bryant to swing through it to make the count 1-2. 2 pitches later, on a 2-2 count, Rodriguez gets Bryant swinging on a front-door slider located up-and-in, a change of pace from the pitcher’s usual slider location on the outside corner. This AB clearly shows how much of a weapon Yariel Rodriguez will be for the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays.
Overall Line: 3.2 IP, 4 H, ER, 6 K, 2 BB, HR, 12 Whiffs
Offence Does Just Enough in 5-3 Win
The Toronto Blue Jays offence seemed to sputter apart from the 1st inning of the ballgame. George Springer started off the frame with an infield hit behind the pitcher’s mound that 2B Brendan Rodgers was unable to glove cleanly. After an impressive web gem from RF Kris Bryant, Bo Bichette laced a ground ball in the hole between shortstop and third base for a single, bringing Springer to second. Daniel Vogelbach took a walk from a visibly rattled SP Dakota Hudson, loading the bases for 2B Cavan Biggio. Biggio missed a 90 MPH fastball that caught a generous amount of the plate, hitting a lazy flyball to left field. Springer was wise not to run on LF Nolan Jones, who was 100th percentile in arm strength in 2023.
The bases were now loaded with 2 down for Davis “Babe” Schneider. Schneider didn’t swing the bat once in his whole AB, as Hudson never gave him a pitch that he could drive. The AB resulted in a base on balls, and with the bases loaded, the Blue Jays broke out to the early 1-0 lead. Daulton Varsho stepped up to the dish with the bases still loaded with 2 outs. On a 1-0 count, Varsho unloaded on a 91 MPH sinker belt-high and crushed it 105.5 MPH and 390 FT to right field for a grand slam, extending Toronto’s lead to 5-0.
Despite the early scoring, Toronto wouldn’t tally a run for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Toronto had Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on first with Bo Bichette at the dish and 2 outs. Bichette lined a single into right field to Michael Toglia, the replacement for Kris Bryant who left the game with an apparent injury. Guerrero Jr. decided to test Toglia, to which the right fielder fired a one-hop throw right on the money to third base to nab Toronto’s first baseman. This ended the frame, wasting the scoring opportunity the Blue Jays had in the 5-3 game.
Garcia, Bullpen Close the Door Late
The bullpen, specifically late in the game, had a solid collective performance. RP Bowden Francis entered the game in relief of SP Yariel Rodriguez. Francis tallied 6 swings-and-misses, with 5 coming from his four-seam fastball. Colorado was able to rough him up for a few runs, but the Rockies hitters had better swings to already well-located pitches. Both pitches to LF Nolan Jones on his double and to 2B Brendan Rodgers on his 2-run single were nearly in the opposite batter’s box, but they were able to get the barrel out and tally a couple hits.
RP Yimi Garcia, along with RP Chad Green, have taken leadership roles in the Blue Jays bullpen during the absences of Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano. Garcia, during the 9th inning, struck out the side to tally nab his first save of the season. The right-handed pitcher maxed out at 99.5 MPH with his four-seam fastball, while also having a 67% swing-and-miss% during his lone inning of work. All 3 of Garcia’s strikeouts came on four-seam fastballs up in the zone. Overall, Garcia has stepped up and proven that he is one of the top options in a deep Blue Jays bullpen.
Get Back to .500
Toronto will go for the series victory on Sunday while also hoping to get back to .500. The last time the Blue Jays were over .500 was after Opening Day in their 8-2 triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays. Jose Berrios, who has a 1.45 ERA thus far in 2024, will take the hill for the Blue Jays while the Rockies will trot out their SP1 in Kyle Freeland. The Toronto Blue Jays will cap off the series against Colorado before welcoming the New York Yankees in a highly-anticipated set that starts on Monday.