Game 1 Recap: They Stayed Safe and Had Fun Out There

Oct 5, 2022 - 7:41 PM

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Not much to say about this one, and like the Jays we’re phoning it in. Most of the starters who could be sat were, but the B team got a chance to shine and some of them took advantage, which is always cool.

The Jays used the first few innings to get some of their top bullpen arms a low stress inning. Judging by Jordan Romano’s 95-97mph fastballs, everyone was treating it as more or less a bullpen session. It went pretty well though, with Trevor Richards, Adam Cimber, Yimi Garcia and Romano combining for four shutout innings.

After that, the reins were turned over to Mitch White and, uh, it went less than pretty well. White coughed up 5 runs in five innings of relief, on 7 hits and a walk while striking out four. It’s a good thing this game didn’t matter, but based on his recent form I don’t think you could use White even in total mop up duty in the playoffs.

On offence, Springer, Kirk, Bichette, Chapman, and Hernandez all got the morning off. Danny Jansen played, and chipped in a double, and Vlad Guerrero jr did as well, lining a couple singles and taking a walk. Vlad has quietly started both walking and elevating the ball a bit again the past couple weeks, after mostly failing to do so in the second half, which is a minor good sign heading into the playoffs.

The only real moment of note was delivered by Gabriel Moreno in the top of the sixth:

His first big league homer was an oppo shot to right centre field. Moreno isn’t a power hitter per se, but he has more in him than he’s been able to get to this year coming off a thumb injury, and the ability to hit a ball like that combined with his near elite contact skills and good defence behind the plate is what makes him such an exciting prospect. Fellow call-up Otto Lopez added three singles and a walk to keep his MLB season average at 1.000, which will play for a fourth outfielder.

Anyway, it had a couple moments but I’m glad it’s over. One more and they’re on to the games that matter.