Blue Jays 12, Palms 1: Toronto Completes the Sweep as Miami Hits Bottom

 By Vin Castillo

There are losses, and then there are nights where the only mercy is the final out.

Thursday night at Coca-Cola Palms Park was the latter, as the Toronto Blue Jays finished off a three-game sweep of the Miami Palms with a ruthless 12–1 dismantling that felt decisive by the fourth inning and punitive by the eighth.

The Palms managed seven hits. Toronto managed seventeen. The gap between those numbers barely tells the story.

It Unraveled Early — and Never Stopped

Blake Johnston was serviceable through three innings, but Toronto cracked him in the fourth, stringing together four runs on a mix of loud contact and relentless pressure. Johnston exited after five, charged with four runs, and by then the game already felt like it was leaning hard in one direction.

From there, it turned into a bullpen night the Palms would rather forget.

  • Shipley surrendered a run.

  • Conley gave up two more.

  • Morin’s eighth inning implosion — five runs on five hits — turned a bad loss into a grim one.

Toronto finished the night with five extra-base hits, four home runs, and a triple, batting as if they knew exactly what was coming every pitch.

Yamaguchi Was Untouchable

While the Palms’ pitchers labored, Blue Jays left-hander Shun Yamaguchi made the night feel endless. He went the distance, allowing just one run on seven hits while striking out eleven — and he did it efficiently.

Miami never drew a walk. Not one.

The only blemish came in the eighth, when Pat Grant connected for his 10th home run of the season, a solo shot that briefly spared the Palms a shutout but did little to change the tone of the evening.

A Team Searching for Air

The box score is blunt:

  • 12 runs allowed

  • 17 hits surrendered

  • 0 walks drawn

  • 11 strikeouts at the plate

But the feeling was heavier than the numbers. The Palms looked tired. They looked frustrated. They looked like a team that has been pressing for days and finally ran out of leverage.

This wasn’t a one-inning collapse or a bad bounce. It was nine innings of being second best.

Where They Stand

The Palms fall to 36–34, their first real stumble below momentum after spending much of May climbing steadily in the American League picture. Injuries have mounted. The rotation is in flux. The bullpen has been leaned on heavily.

And now, after three straight losses to Toronto by a combined score of 23–5, the Palms leave this series needing something more than a day off.

They need perspective.
They need looseness.
They need a game that doesn’t feel like it’s slipping away by the third inning.

Because nights like this don’t linger because of the score.

They linger because of how powerless they feel while they’re happening.

The only way out, as always, is tomorrow.

 Toronto Blue Jays 12, Miami Palms 1

 Thursday, June 11, 2020

 

 

 Toronto Blue Jays (5-0)                                  Miami Palms (36-34)                                     

 Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      

 ------          -- -  - -- -- --  -  -  - ---   ---      ------          -- -  - -- -- --  -  -  - ---   ---      

 Bichette ss     5  1  2  0  1  2  0  0  0  0   .391      Munoz ss        4  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  0   .302

 Gurriel, Jr. lf 5  1  2  0  1  0  5  0  0  0   .348      Koch 2b         4  0  1  0  0  1  1  2  0  0   .276

 Guerrero, Jr. 3b6  1  1  0  0  3  0  1  0  4   .250      Grant rf        4  1  2  1  0  1  2  0  0  0   .300

 Grichuk cf      4  2  2  1  1  0  3  0  0  1   .524      Encarnacion dh  4  0  1  0  0  3  0  0  0  1   .258

 Fisher rf       5  2  4  4  0  1  2  0  0  0   .381      Korb 3b         4  0  1  0  0  2  2  0  0  2   .263

 Shaw 1b         5  2  2  3  0  0  2  1  0  0   .400      Wieters c       4  0  1  0  0  0  9  0  0  0   .249

 Biggio 2b       5  0  1  0  0  0  1  1  0  3   .286      Holt lf         4  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  0  0   .264

 Panik dh        5  1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   .222      Garcia 1b       3  0  1  0  0  1  6  0  0  0   .236

 Jansen c        4  2  2  4  1  1  13 0  0  0   .273      Sohn cf         3  0  0  0  0  2  2  0  0  3   .267

 

                 -- -  - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---                            -- -  - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---            

 Totals          44 12 17 12 4  7  27 3  0  9             Totals          34 1  7  1  0  11 27 6  0  6  

 

 

                           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10     R  H  E

                           -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -      -  -  -

 Toronto Blue Jays         0  0  0  4  0  1  2  5  0         12 17 0  

 Miami Palms               0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0         1  7  0  

 

 

 

 LOB- Toronto Blue Jays 9, Miami Palms 6; 2B- Grichuk(5), Biggio(3), Panik(1), Encarnacion(11);

 3B- Fisher(2); HR- Fisher(2), Shaw(1), Jansen 2(2), Grant(10); RBI- Grichuk(5),

 Fisher 4(6), Shaw 3(8), Jansen 4(5), Grant(35); RLSP- Guerrero, Jr., Biggio 2,

 Panik, Sohn 2, Korb 2;  

 

  

  

 

 

 Toronto Blue Jays            IP   H  R  ER BB SO    ERA

 Yamaguchi(W 1-0)             9.0  7  1  1  0  11   1.00  

 

 Miami Palms                  IP   H  R  ER BB SO    ERA

 Johnston(L 6-7)              5.0  8  4  4  2  5    4.30  

 Shipley                      1.0  1  1  1  1  0    6.67  

 Conley                       1.0  2  2  2  0  0    5.84  

 Morin                        1.0  5  5  5  0  0    4.50  

 Matusz                       1.0  1  0  0  1  2    4.60  

 

 Pitches-strikes- Yamaguchi 104-70, Johnston 73-47, Shipley 14-10, Conley 14-8,

 Morin 22-14, Matusz 20-13; Batters faced- Yamaguchi 34, Johnston 25, Shipley 5,

 Conley 5, Morin 8, Matusz 5; 


  

 Temp - 84, Sky - Mostly Clear, Wind - ESE 10mph 

 

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