Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
The joy from a seventh straight win was somewhat muted for the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday due to the recurrence of a left forearm issue with starter Hyun Jin Ryu.
Danny Jansen, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Santiago Espinal homered in a 7−3 win over the Chicago White Sox in a game where Ryu left after four innings due to tightness in his pitching arm.
"That surprised me," said Jansen, who leads all AL catchers with seven homers. "(Over) the whole game he had a couple pitches where they made us pay. But for the most part I thought his change−up was sharp and his fastball command was good.
"He mixed in some curveballs too. Obviously, tough (to exit early) but he battled."
Ryu spent almost a month on the injured list earlier this season due to left forearm inflammation. There was no immediate word on how long he might be out of action as the team awaited results from imaging exams.
"We first need to get the scans and see what the results are and then think about what our process will be," Ryu said via a translator.
Manager Charlie Montoyo said Ryu deserves credit for a 58−pitch effort on a night when there were limited bullpen options.
"That was huge what he did today, giving us four innings," he said. "Otherwise, I don’t know how we could have covered that game."
Raimel Tapia had two doubles and Matt Chapman scored twice as the Blue Jays (29−20) won for the 11th time in 14 games. The Toronto bullpen provided five innings of shutout relief.
Each team had a lead-off homer as AJ Pollock went deep off Ryu and Espinal turned on a Michael Kopech offering in the bottom half.
Bo Bichette worked a bases−loaded walk to give Toronto a 2−1 lead in the second inning. Teoscar Hernandez and Chapman walked in the third before Jansen hit a three−run shot.
Chicago halved the deficit in the fourth as Andrew Vaughn led off with a liner to right field that Hernandez dropped after getting twisted while running toward the wall. Jose Abreu followed with his sixth homer of the year.
Kopech (1−2) was pulled after throwing 85 pitches over just three innings. He allowed six hits, five earned runs and four walks while striking out four.
"As a pitcher you can sometimes give these great−hitting teams a little too much credit and then it becomes kind of a mind game," he said. "I think I did that a little bit today. I tried to make my pitches better than they were."
Ryu, meanwhile, allowed four hits, two earned runs and didn’t issue a walk. He had four strikeouts.
Ross Stripling (1−1) survived a nervous sixth inning as Chicago put runners on the corners but couldn’t push a run across. The White Sox loaded the bases in the seventh but again couldn’t score as David Phelps got Abreu to ground into a force out.
Guerrero provided some insurance in the eighth with a two−run shot that travelled 414 feet. His 10th homer of the season had a game−high exit velocity of 111.0 miles per hour.
Right−hander Yimi Garcia pitched a 1−2−3 ninth inning for Toronto. The Blue Jays outhit the White Sox 10−8.
Announced attendance was 23,312 and the game took three hours 14 minutes to play. Chicago (23−25) will try to avoid a sweep of the three−game series on Thursday afternoon.
DOME SWEET DOME
The retractable roof at Rogers Centre was opened shortly before first pitch. The skies cleared in the early evening after light rain fell through the afternoon in the city’s downtown area.
The Blue Jays have a 5−1 record with the roof open this season.
MATINEE ON TAP
Right−handers are set to square off in Thursday’s finale as Alek Manoah (5−1, 1.77 ERA) faces Chicago’s Johnny Cueto (0−1, 2.41).
Players, managers and coaches will wear special patches on their uniforms for Lou Gehrig Day.
feature image: The Canadian Press
