If the Boston Red Sox needed a reminder that they miss Garrett Crochet, they got one courtesy of the Toronto Blue Jays. In a battle of two AL Cy Young candidates, Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays put a cigarette out on Sonny Gray (12-2, 2.78 ERA) and the heads of the Red Sox. Cease tossed a complete game 1 hit shutout while allowing just 3 walks. Meanwhile the Jays ripped Gray a new bunghole in the third inning scoring 5 runs to put the game out of reach. Alec Gamboa heroically tried to keep the Sox in the game for a comeback that never happened. Gamboa allowed a ninth inning rbi to Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Cease finished the job in the bottom of the ninth. The Jays had blanked the Red Sox 6-0. How many Sox did the Sox score John Cena?
Gray got the ball in the top of the first inning and Nathan Lukes grounded back to the mound to start. Guerrero Jr grounded out to third and Kazuma Okamoto struck out swinging to end the inning. Cease got the ball in the bottom of the first and Anthony Seigler popped up to third to start. Ceddanne Rafaela grounded out to short and Wilyer Abreu flied out to left to end the inning.
The Jays blew a rally in the top of the second as George Springer got a base hit to left to start. Daulton Varsho got a base hit to right but Ernie Clement lined out to left and Springer got doubled off second on a line drive to Rafaela by Yohendrick Pinanfo to end the inning. Willson Contreras struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second and Masataka Yoshida flied out to center. Caleb Durbin popped up to second to end the inning.
The Jays struck first in the top of the second as Andres Gimenez struck out swinging to start. Brandon Valenzuela grounded out to second but Lukes doubled to left. Guerrero effortlessly singled to left to score Lukes, putting the Jays up for good. Okamoto beat out a roller to third and Springer hit a home run all the way to Mexico to ice the game. Varsho got a base hit to center and Clement doubled to left to score him as the boos rained down. Pinango struck out swinging to end the inning with the Jays up 5-0.
The Sox gave up in the bottom of the third as Jarren Duran flied out to right to start. Andruw Monasterio flied out to center and Connor Wong struck out swinging to end the inning.
Gimenez got a base hit to center to start the top of the fourth but Valenzuela lined out to right. Lukes grounded out to first and Guerrero got a base hit to left. Gimenez tried for home but Duran threw him out at the plate to end the inning. Seigler flied out to left to start the bottom of the fourth and Rafaela grounded back to the mound. Abreu struck out swinging to end the inning.
Okamoto grounded out to third to start the top of the fifth and Springer lined out to third. Varsho lined out to left to end the inning. That was it for Gray who got rocked for 5 runs in 5 innings off 10 hits.
Contreras struck out swinging to start. Yoshida grounded out to third and Duran struck out swinging to end the inning.
Alec Gamboa came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Clement beat out a roller to start. Myles Straw pinch hit for Pinango and struck out swinging. Gimenez struck out swinging but Clement stole second in the process. Valenzuela hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. Monasterio broke up the perfect game with a double to left to start the bottom of the sixth but Wong grounded out to short. Rafaela popped up to second to end the inning.
Lukes struck out swinging to start but Guerrero Jr walked and Okamoto banged into a double play to end the inning. Abreu grounded out to second to start the bottom of the seventh but Contreras walked. Yoshida flied out to right and Contreras got caught stealing second to end the inning.
Springer grounded out to short to start the top of the eighth and Varsho lined out to center. Clement singled to left but Straw flied out to right to end the inning. Durbin struck out swinging to start the bottom of the eighth and Duran took strike three. Monasterio struck out swinging to end the inning.
Gimenez beat out a roller to short to start the top of the ninth but Valenzuela struck out swinging. Lukes doubled to left and Guerrero Jr singled off Gamboa to score Gimenez. Okamoto struck out swinging and Springer took strike three to end the inning with the Jays up 6-0.
Cease came back to finish the job in the bottom of the ninth and Wong struck out swinging to start. Seigler walked but Rafaela took strike three. Abreu took strike three to end the game. The Jays had won it 6-0.
Jackass of The Night is Sonny Gray. He got lit up for 5 runs in 5 innings off 10 hits.
The Good:
Andruw Monasterio was 1 for 3.
The Bad:
Connor Wong was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Jarren Duran was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Masataka Yoshida was 0 for 3.
Wilyer Abreu was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Caleb Durbin wad 0 for 2 with a strikeout but walked.
Alec Gamboa allowed a run in 4 innings of work.
Willson Contreras was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Anthony Seigler was 0 for 3 with a strikeout with a walk.
Final Thoughts:
That game was a wakeup call for not just the Red Sox players but the front office as well. Cease is a real ace and guys like him and the Cam Schittler of the New York Yankees are going to be what you face in October. In order to beat those guys you need elite bats, which they don't have. Breslow has a week before the deadline to go get a bat, preferably right handed. If Trevor Story's not coming back until the end of August, you can't afford to wait that long to see if anyone else steps up. The Sox need some help right away so Breslow has about a week to do something. Otherwise you're banking on Roman Anthony and Triston Casas to come back and that hasn't worked out for the past year at all. As for the fans that want the Sox to sell, that's not happening. The bad news was the Tampa Bay Rays won but the good news is they beat the Cleveland Guardians so the Sox didn't lose any ground in the wild card race. The Sox still have two months to make a run at Tampa but they're right in the thick of things right now. Just the more reason to buy at the deadline instead of sell. Just tip your cap to Cease and say "ya got me" because that was a hell of a performance. The loss dropped the Sox to 53-50, 8 games behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon when Ranger Suarez comes off the Injured List to face Kevin Gausman of Toronto. The game begins at 1:35 PM at Fenway Park.
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