© John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Bassitt Hits Rare 200-Inning Mark In Sizzling Blue Jays Victory
TORONTO — The Blue Jays, tired of losing, came out swangin' and bangin' Thursday, tagging Yankees starter Luke Weaver early and never looking back. When all was said and done, Toronto concluded the third game of the series with a neat 6-0 victory.
Here are the biggest storylines from a fun evening at Rogers Centre.
Chris Bassitt hits rare 200-inning mark
In an era where the 200-inning feat gets rarer and rarer, Chris Bassitt got it done.
Already at a career-high in innings this year, the right-hander hung his head low, selected his pitch, and dealt to Aaron Judge, one of baseball's deadliest hitters. The Blue Jays had a sure lead at this point in the eighth, and when Judge swung over Bassitt’s offering for strike three, the crowd went nuts.
Sure enough, manager John Schneider popped out of the dugout immediately, ending Bassitt’s evening after 7.2 shutout frames, during which the righty allowed just five hits and struck out 12 Yankee batters. With his excellent outing, Bassitt finished with exactly 200 innings pitched, becoming the first Jays hurler since Marcus Stroman to accomplish the feat.
"I think the benchmark for elite pitchers is 200 innings," Bassitt said. "To get 200 innings, you have to have so many people that trust you. You have to have so much work behind the scenes that people don't see. It's been my only goal forever."
Before the standing ovation from the Toronto faithful. Bassitt operated with blazing efficiency, tossing 83 of his 106 pitches for strikes. It certainly wasn’t the Yanks’ Opening Day lineup by any standards, but Bassitt still carved with the sinker on the corners and the slow curve in the dirt. As the outing kept building, it became clear New York stood no chance.
Right now, Bassitt is a lock for a wild-card start, assuming the Blue Jays clinch. His performance Thursday proved he deserves a look in Game 2 of that series after ace Kevin Gausman.
Blue Jays debut new batting order
This isn’t a panic move, insisted the skipper Schneider, whose club scored zero runs through the first two games of this series. Instead, the decision to move Bo Bichette to the four-hole and Brandon Belt to the two-hole was motivated by the club's critical need for an on-base plus damage sequence.
“It's strictly [about] getting [Bichette] up with guys on base,” Schneider reiterated. “So it's not at all reactionary.”
Additionally, Bichette’s new spot in the lineup will add some protection for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whom pitchers might not be so keen to pitch around with the Blue Jays’ best hitter waiting on deck.
In the end, Belt wound up bringing the thump when he crushed a game-clinching three-run blast to right field in the sixth inning. The big Texan watched as his majestic fly ball soared into the bar area beyond the outfield stands and then sauntered around the bases while the home crowd went ballistic.
Matt Chapman busts homerless slump
Matt Chapman was notably bumped down to eighth in the order for the first time this season, and there was good reason behind the move. After a furious month of April (1.152 OPS), the Jays third baseman has put up a .647 OPS, while also missing time with an injured finger.
Well, it turns out he’s alright with hitting at the bottom of the lineup. The 30-year-old homered in the fourth inning of Thursday’s contest, launching a screaming liner just inside the right-field foul pole. That blast, his 17th of the season, marked Chapman’s first home run since August 4.
The barrels and hard-hit rate from his hot April haven’t ceased, but Chapman started whiffing at around a 30% clip and making life quite hard on himself with two strikes.
Thursday’s homer offered a splash of relief. Chapman felt the ball on the barrel and watched it leave the yard. Sometimes a lazy jog around the bases is all a player needs to shed a slump.
