The Blue Jays suffered their second straight seven-run loss tonight as the Astros jumped on Kevin Gausman early and defeated Toronto 9-2 in the series opener from H-Town. Toronto has gotten back-to-back poor outings from Alek Manoah and now Gausman, but they’ll have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend as they’re both in line to start against the Yankees.
Blue Jays Nation’s Player of the Game: Santiago Espinal
After earning a spot in last year’s All-Star Game, it has been a rough start to the 2023 season for Espinal. While he was a substitute in tonight’s game, Espinal smoked his first home run of the season in the 8th inning. He took a sweeper from Seth Martinez 377 feet, and it could’ve gone a lot farther had it not hit the upper wall below the railroad tracks in left field.

Santiago Espinal’s first home run of the season is about as far as 377 feet can look. #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/NRZzEdLXiB
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) April 18, 2023

Things worth mentioning
Kevin Gausman: Gausman’s performance can ultimately be chalked up to a rough first inning. For starters, the Astros were seeing the ball really well, as they were making supreme contact off the bat. Three balls were hit over 105 mph, with those hits resulting in two doubles and a home run. He also walked two batters in the first frame, which is quite abnormal for Gausman as he had only walked three total batters on the season coming into tonight.
Furthermore, Houston wasn’t biting on the splitter at all. Gausman threw the splitter 16 times in the first inning; it registered only two whiffs versus nine balls. Several hits l …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation