By Canadian Press

Whit Merrifield thrives in leadoff spot as Blue Jays down Angels 4-1

Jul 28, 2023 | 7:13 PM

TORONTO — Whit Merrifield went 3 for 4, including a home run, as Toronto’s new leadoff man to help the Blue Jays down the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 on Friday.

Toronto manager John Schneider pencilled Merrifield in at the top of the Blue Jays’ batting order for the game, bumping George Springer down to fifth.

Matt Chapman and Danny Jansen had solo home runs in the second and third innings respectively as Toronto (58-46) earned a critical win in the American League’s wild card race. Bo Bichette scored Merrifield with a double in the sixth.

Kevin Gausman (8-5) was superb for the Blue Jays over six-plus innings, adding nine strikeouts to his American League-leading total of 171. He allowed a run on five hits and three walks.

Relievers Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza, Jordan Romano of Markham, Ont., and Yimi Garcia preserved Gausman’s win, with Garcia picking up his third save of the season.

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Superstar Shohei Ohtani’s first inning home run was all the offence Los Angeles (54-50) could muster as the Angels saw their four-game win streak snapped.

Lucas Giolito (6-7) pitched 5 1/3 innings in his Angels debut, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Jose Soriano and Jacob Webb came out of L.A.’s bullpen.

Giolito was traded to Los Angeles from the Chicago White Sox along with fellow right-handed pitcher Reynaldo Lopez on Wednesday.

Ohtani took the first pitch he saw deep to right field to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead in the first inning. His 39th home run of the season — best in Major League Baseball — came on a 93.4 m.p.h. four-seam fastball from Gausman that travelled 397 feet with an exit velocity of 103.5 m.p.h.

There had been speculation that Ohtani would be on the trade block ahead of Tuesday’s deadline but L.A.’s acquisition of Giolito and Lopez made it clear the Angels would push for the playoffs. The 2021 American League MVP pitched in the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit on Thursday, striking out nine in a one-hit complete game shutout before hitting two homers in the evening game.

“It would have been great,” joked Schneider when asked if he would have liked Ohtani to be traded away from the Angels before they arrived at Rogers Centre. “I thought he’d have a day off after yesterday, too. 

“Like ‘dude, come on, aren’t you tired? What are you doing?'”

Chapman replied for Toronto in the second, launching a 94.1 m.p.h. four-seamer from Giolito over the home bullpen. His 14th of the season sailed 411 feet into the Rogers Centre stands, delighting the sold-out crowd of 42,106.

Jansen gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the game the next inning, putting a 92.3 m.p.h. Giolito four-seamer just over the railing in left field. The veteran catcher has 14 home runs this year, one off of his career best in 2022. It also added to his career-best total of 46 runs batted in.

Merrifield led off the sixth with a single, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Angels catcher Matt Thaiss. Bichette then came to the plate and bounced a double into the outfield to score Merrifield for a 3-1 Toronto lead.

Despite being dominant for six innings, Gausman pitched himself into a jam in the seventh. He gave up a single to Mike Moustakas then issued walks to Thaiss and Hunter Renfroe to load the bases. That ended his night with Swanson getting two strikeouts and inducing a flyout to end the threat.

Merrifield continued to thrive in the leadoff position in the seventh, hitting his eighth home run of the season. It bounced off the top of the left-field wall and back into the outfield for a 4-1 lead.

GOING GREEN — Reliever Chad Green will throw in a single-A game in Dunedin, Fla., on Saturday. He’s returning from Tommy John surgery that he had while still a member of the New York Yankees last season. He signed with Toronto as a free agent in the off-season.

ON DECK — Alek Manoah (2-8) gets the start in Saturday’s matinee for Toronto.

Reid Detmers (2-7) will go for the Angels.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2023.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press