The 2020 baseball season will be remembered like no other season, especially for the Toronto Blue Jays.
There were many uncertainties, questions and many positives along the way. Unfortunately now for the Blue Jays, their season is officially over.
A disastrous start to Game 2 put Toronto in an early 7-0 hole after two innings. The deficit was ultimately too big to overcome as the Tampa Bay Rays eliminated the Blue Jays, winning 8-2 at Tropicana Field on Wednesday afternoon to win the best-of-three game series in two games.
If Toronto was going to even up the series on Wednesday, they knew they needed a good performance from their star pitcher, Hyun Jin Ryu. Unfortunately for Ryu, he couldn’t have picked a worse time to have his worst outing of the season. Ryu was pulled in the second inning, after giving up seven runs on eight hits. Of the seven runs, only three of them were earned, as shortstop Bo Bichette struggled in the field with two errors early in the game.
On the offensive side, Toronto didn’t get much from its top-four players in the lineup. Cavan Biggio, Bichette, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went a combined 1-for-15 in the game.
As was the case in Game 1, Tampa Bay’s pitching gave the Blue Jays offense headaches. Rays starter Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings and struck out eight Blue Jays batters.
The Blue Jays got both of their runs on a pair of solo home runs from catcher Danny Jansen, which both came off of Glasnow.
One positive note from the game: Blue Jays pitcher Nate Pearson made his postseason debut. He pitched two innings, gave up no hits and struck out five of the six Tampa Bay batters he faced.
For a full box score from the game, click here:
Tampa Bay advances to the next round of the American League playoffs and will face the winner of the New York Yankees-Cleveland Indians series.
Notes:
- Toronto’s Wild Card roster featured 13 pitchers, three catchers, eight infielders and four outfielders. 19 of those players made their postseason debuts in 2020.
- The Blue Jays made the playoffs without a single player who has been in the majors for 10-plus years, something that hasn’t happened in 105 years and happened only two other times in Major League Baseball history. The 1912 Red Sox and the 1915 Phillies were the other two teams.