WASHINGTON – Michael A. Taylor’s second homer of the season helped “visiting” citizens fight in the fight against Hyun-Jin Ryu and beat home Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 on Thursday, before both teams headed for a coronavirus “Mini All-Star break”, as Washington manager Dave Martinez called it.
Kurt Suzuki delivered a two-shot double and Asdrubal Cabrera added a double RBI off Ryu (0-1), who gave up Taylor’s two-shot shot to the center immediately.
Ryu’s ERA is at 8.00 am after conceding five shots and nine 4-innings hits, his second start with $ 80 million, a four-year deal that Toronto gave him after being second in the NL Cy Young Award for the Dodgers in 2019.
Erick Fedde, making his second start in place of a Stephen Strasburg sidelined, gave up two heats in 3 innings. Ryne Harper (1-0) followed and scored five outs for the win. Daniel Hudson (Lynchburg, ODU) launched ninth to earn his first save of the year.
National team third base Carter Kieboom reached base four times – two singles, two walks – and scored twice.
Teoscar Hernandez has returned home twice, giving him four during this series of four games in Washington, and Cavan Biggio has made a single hit for Toronto.
Technically, the Blue Jays were the “home” team for the last two games; they are barred from their Toronto stadium in 2020 and are waiting for a Triple-A baseball field in Buffalo to be ready for Major League action.
And it looks like Washington will be the home of the Blue Jays for a while longer. This is because neither they nor the nationals will play again until Tuesday, a four-day gap that is normally unheard of in baseball, in which clubs can spend weeks at a time without respite.
For Washington, 1B-DH Howie Kendrick missed a second game in a row due to stiffness in the upper back.
Strasburg, out due to a nervous problem in his throwing hand, planned to knock out the flat ground on Thursday and to mix in all his footsteps after going alone with the fast balls on Wednesday.
Right defender Derek Fisher (UVA) left after the third inning with a narrow left quadrant. Bichette doubled twice on his return after losing three games with a strong tendon in his left knee.
Braves 2, Rays 1: Max Fried withdrew the top 14 batsmen from Tampa Bay and combined with three lifts on a four batsman while Atlanta beat the visiting rays.
Dansby Swanson had a single for scoring in the second two-shot inning of Atlanta.
Fried (1-0) hit seven and walked one while allowing a 6th inning run. The left corner improved to 4-0 in four interleague starts.
Luke Jackson and Shane Greene teamed up for four outs before Mark Melancon finished ninth for his second save.
Royals 5, Tigers 3: Trevor Rosenthal launched an unscored ninth for his first save since 2017 when visiting Kansas City beat Detroit, surpassing Miguel Cabrera’s first multihomer game since 2016.
Rosenthal has struggled with his health and effectiveness in recent years, ending 2019 with a 13.50 ERA in 22 appearances with the Nationals and Tigers. When he withdrew JaCoby Jones onto a grounder to end the game, he gave his glove a little celebratory touch.
Cabrera hit the solo humeri in the first and eighth. Cabrera has 480 humeri for his career.
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