Blue Jays Clutch Plays: Barger's Big Throw and Yesavage's Timely Grounder

[Matthew Creally]

Welcome back to Blue Jays Clutch Plays, a recurring post that highlights the six most pivotal plays (three pitching, three hitting) from the past week of Blue Jays baseball, according to MLB's win probability model. Click here to read last week's edition.

After recovering enough to undo their early-April struggles, the Blue Jays went down without much of a fight in St. Petersburg, getting swept in their first set at Tropicana Field since 2024. A series win against the Angels over the weekend may sound like a relief, but they let slip an opportunity to sweep them on Sunday afternoon. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead and forcing José Soriano to throw 25 pitches in the bottom of the first, the bats proceeded to shut down as Soriano only needed 78 pitches to get through the next 6.2 innings. The long ball continued to haunt Eric Lauer, who gave up six runs in five innings to take the loss. They're 18-22, the Rays are coming to town next, and the sense of urgency is climbing.

Pitching

3. Patrick Corbin: Junior Caminero GIDP, Bot 1, 5/6 (+10.6% WPA)

The offense once again squandered a respectable effort by Patrick Corbin, whose advanced metrics suggest his days with an ERA under 4.00 might be numbered. After getting into early trouble on Wednesday, he located this sinker beautifully off the outer half of the plate, getting Junior Caminero, the most dangerous power threat in the Rays' lineup, to ground into an easy unassisted 4-3 double play.

2. Trey Yesavage: Vaughn Grissom LIDP, Top 2, 5/9 (+11.0% WPA)

Vaughn Grissom didn't put a bad swing on this Trey Yesavage fastball, turning it around on a line to right field, but Addison Barger ensured that no run would score on the play thanks to a dazzling 101-mph outfield assist. This clutch play might've come with a curse, though, as Barger was scratched with elbow soreness on Sunday, just a day after getting activated from the IL. He'll be getting an MRI on that elbow shortly. The injuries just keep piling onto each other.

1. Trey Yesavage: Sebastian Rivero GIDP, Top 4, 5/9 (+19.4% WPA)

Yesavage exited Saturday's start without giving up a run, but he didn't have his best stuff, as the Angels knocked him out after he threw 87 pitches through four innings. Despite that, he continues to have a knack for well-timed double plays. On a full count with the bases loaded, Sebastian Rivero chased a fastball below the zone and grounded it harmlessly to Ernie Clement, who turned the inning-ender himself. According to win probability, this was the fifth-most clutch play by a Toronto pitcher this season so far.

Hitting

3. Kazuma Okamoto: RBI Single, Bot 3, 5/8 (+12.0% WPA)

Kazuma Okamoto's monstrous stretch (254 wRC+ in May) is showing no signs of slowing down, as this RBI single on Friday night proved to be the eventual winner in a 2-0 Blue Jays victory. It was one of only three hits they got on the night, which, along with his 26 RBIs being eight more than the next closest hitter on the team, indicates how much he has been carrying the lineup. 

2. Yohendrick Piñango: RBI Single, Top 5, 5/5 (+12.3% WPA)

This was an impressive piece of hitting from Yohendrick Piñango, who was unfortunately the odd man out when Barger returned on Saturday but is likely to be the first call-up if the MRI on Barger's elbow reveals any sort of bad news. Drew Rasmussen, who owns one of the best cut fastballs in the game, bunched him up with a first-pitch cutter in on the hands. Piñango fought it off and took it right back up the middle to score Clement and give the Blue Jays the lead, one they would not hold after the baseball gods conjured an evil force to hex Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the eighth.

1. Andrés Giménez: RBI Single, Top 2, 5/5 (+12.3% WPA)

The Blue Jays went 2-4 this week. One of those wins was by a 2-0 score, in which they scored both runs early, and the other was a 14-1 rout. As such, it was a quiet stretch in terms of truly impactful swings, as this Andrés Giménez single doesn't even crack the top 40 biggest WPA changes on the season for the offense. Giménez's bouncing ball up the middle scored Daulton Varsho from second to put the Jays up 2-0, which was about as good as things got at any point during the Tampa series. They'll try to get their revenge at home this week.

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