Blue Jays 2, Palms 0

 June 17, 2020 — Coca-Cola Palms Park

By Vin Castillo

There are nights when you tip your cap, and nights when you just shake your head. Wednesday was both.

The Miami Palms wasted a complete-game gem from Blake Johnston and still walked off the field scoreless, blanked 2–0 by Toronto right-hander Shun Yamaguchi as the Blue Jays continued to have Miami’s number in this series.

Johnston was excellent—efficient, poised, and unlucky. The left-hander scattered seven hits across nine innings, allowing just two runs and never issuing a walk. He needed only 94 pitches to get through the night, inducing weak contact and keeping Toronto from mounting any extended rallies.

Unfortunately, Yamaguchi was better.

Toronto’s starter matched Johnston pitch for pitch and then some, striking out nine Palms hitters while allowing seven singles and not a single free pass. Miami put the ball in play, but almost never with authority, and never with timing.

Toronto struck first in the opening inning. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled and later came home on a sharp RBI single by Randal Grichuk to make it 1–0. From there, Johnston locked in, retiring 16 of 18 batters at one point and keeping the Palms within a swing.

That swing never came.

Miami’s best chances evaporated quickly. Pat Grant stranded three runners over the course of the night. Brock Holt left two aboard in the seventh. Even when the Palms managed traffic—seven hits, no walks—they couldn’t string anything together.

Toronto added a crucial insurance run in the ninth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled and eventually scored on Rowdy Tellez’s RBI single, pushing the margin to 2–0 and extinguishing any late hope.

The Palms went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, fittingly, as Yamaguchi closed the door with his ninth strikeout of the night.

It was the kind of loss that stings more than a blowout. The pitching was there. The defense was clean. The opportunity existed.

The offense, once again, did not.

Miami slips to 39–36, still searching for consistency as the All-Star break looms closer. They’ve shown flashes—walk-offs, extra-inning grit, even moments of swagger—but games like this underline how thin the margin remains.

As Scott Hatteberg put it afterward, “That’s a game you want to find a way to win.”

They didn’t. And on nights like this, the lineup card almost feels beside the point.

Toronto Blue Jays   1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  —  2  7  0

Miami Palms         0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  —  0  7  0

Toronto Blue Jays Batting

Bichette ss        4 1 1 0

Gurriel Jr. lf     4 1 1 0

Guerrero Jr. 3b    4 1 1 0

Grichuk cf         4 0 2 1

Tellez dh          4 0 1 1

McGuire c          4 0 0 0

Fisher rf          4 0 1 0

Shaw 1b            3 0 0 0

Drury 2b           3 0 0 0

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

Totals            34 2 7 2

Miami Palms Batting

Munoz ss           4 0 1 0

Koch 2b            4 0 0 0

Grant 1b           4 0 0 0

Encarnacion dh     4 0 1 0

Wieters c          4 0 0 0

Miranda rf         4 0 2 0

Holt lf            4 0 0 0

Garcia 3b          3 0 2 0

Sohn cf            3 0 1 0

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

Totals            34 0 7 0

Pitching

Toronto Blue Jays


Yamaguchi (W, 2-0)   9.0  7  0  0  0  9

Miami Palms


Johnston (L, 6-8)    9.0  7  2  2  0  3

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