For most of the night, this looked like a typically frustrating 2026 Blue Jays loss. The starting pitching wasn’t very good, the bullpen did enough to keep them in range, and while the offence produce traffic on the bases it failed to turn that into runs.
Luckily, things flipped late. The offence woke up and chained together a crooked inning, and Tyler Rogers and Luis Varland were nails as they have been all year to bring it home.
The offence had plenty of base runners tonight, but as has so often been the case this season they struggled with runners on. Charles McAdoo lead the game off with a hard double to right. Alejandro Kirk then doubled himself, pushing the Jays in front 1-0. Two outs later, Kazuma Okamoto hit the third double of the inning to cash Kirk. In the second, a Davis Schneider hit by pitch and a Myles Straw fly ball single put two on with one out, and made it five men on in the first turn of the order for Toronto. MaDoo’s second hit of the game, a line single, loaded the bases, but Kirk grounded into a double play to prevent them from capitalizing. Walks by Okamoto and Schneider and a Nathan Lukes double loaded the bases again in the third, but again none of the runners scored. They only stranded one runner in the fourth, a Straw infield single, and went in order in the fifth.
Jose Soriano didn’t have a great night. He set the Reds down in order in the first. Things looked a little shakier in the next inning, as he hung a breaking ball to Eugenio Suarez that bounced off the facing of the second deck and then gave up a pair of singles to put the tying run on third, but a double play got him out of it. In the third, though, the first two batters reached on an opposite field single and a bunt. This time, Elly De La Cruz hit a soft liner down the left field line that dropped just fair for a double, scoring both runners. De La Cruz stole third, giving him a 30-30 season, and came home to score on a broken bat single by Sal Stewart. One batter later, Suarez lined a single to centre that moved Stewart to third. Hector Rodriguez tapped a ball back to the mound. Soriano opted to attempt the double play instead of holding Stewart at third. He got Suarez at second, but the throw over to first was too late, allowing Stewart to cross. All that left the Jays in a 5-2 hole
Brendan Cellucci took over for the fourth. He gave up one hit in a scoreless inning. In the fifth he was better, retiring the Reds in order with a pair of strikeouts.
Chad Dallas got the sixth. He gave up a pair of fairly weak singles, one a grounder that Charles McAdoo couldn’t field cleanly and one a soft liner, but avoided damage.
Nathan Lukes was hit by Nick Lodolo’s first pitch of the sixth inning. It was also his last of the night, with Luis Mey coming on in relief. The Jays managed some solid contact but no hits.
Dallas returned to start the seventh, walking De La Cruz and striking Stewart out. He then gave way to Mason Fluharty, who retired the next two Reds. The Jays would finally get back on the board in their half. Andres Gimenez, hitting for McAdoo, walked. Kirk did the same. A Mey sinker sawed Guerrero off, shattering his bat. The ball hopped in front of the plate, bounced off one of the fragments of the barrel in mid air on its way back to the mound, and ricocheted into right field. That plated Gimenez, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to two. George Springer followed with a grounder to short that Oswaldo Cabrera misplayed, loading the bases. with none out and forcing Mey from the game. Pierce Johnson fared no better, though. Kazuma Okamoto lined his first pitch off the wall in left centre, his second double of the night, tying the game at five. Lukes slashed a grounder the other way into left, scoring Springer to put the Jays in front. They failed to build on the one run margin. Brett Bateman flew out for Schneider. Clement hit a one hopper to short, Okamoto unwisely tried to go home and was thrown out easily. Finally, Josh Smith, who’d come on to pinch hit for Straw in the previous inning, struck out swinging.
Tyler Rogers came on to protect the newly acquired lead. He worked a clean inning around a ground ball single. The Jays also went quietly in the eighth, managing just a walk off Graham Ashcraft. In the ninth, Louis Varland locked down the save without drama.
Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.38), Lukes (0.15), Rogers (0.12), Varland (0.16)
Less so: Soriano (-0.38)
Two more to go. We’re firmly in “playing out the string” territory here, but there’s one last bit of drama to keep an eye on this weekend. Justin Verlander will start for the Tigers tomorrow, the last appearance of his first ballot Hall of Fame career. It’s hard to tell how much he’ll pitch, but probably not a lot given that he hasn’t even appeared in a minor league game since early June. Right now, Verlander sits 8th on the all time strikeout list with 3,554. Max Scherzer, the Jays’ most logical starter for Sunday’s game, sits just four back at 3,550. No starter has been announced for the season finale yet, but Trey Yesavage is already tabbed for tomorrow and CY Van Eyk is on the same short rest Scherzer is, so there’s no better candidate. If Scherzer goes, barring a miracle performance from Verlander the day before, he’ll have a real chance at edging out his former teammate right at the finish line of their respective careers.
Between then and now, Yesavage (5-5, 3.67) will continue his comeback from the torn meniscus that cost hinm most of this month, taking on Rhett Lowder (6-12, 6.01).
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