Zach Plesac battered by Blue Jays in 7-2 loss

Back-to-back wins continue to elude the Guardians. Cleveland has not won consecutive games since July 18 and failed to end that drought Tuesday night, dropping a 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays.

Zach Plesac didn’t give his team much of a chance. Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis was making calls to the bullpen as early as the first inning, during which Plesac gave up a solo home run to George Springer and a two-run shot to Teoscar Hernández to spot Toronto a 3-0 lead. He simply did not have command of his pitches, especially his four-seam fastball, which spent most of the night in the upper half of the strike zone to the delight of the Blue Jays’ batters.

Over five innings of work, Plesac gave up a total of 10 hits and six earned runs. He didn’t record a single strikeout all night and only 22% of his 82 pitches went for a whiff or a called strike. The Blue Jays were barreling up his pitches left and right, with 15 of the balls Toronto hitters put in play against Plesac recording an exit velocity of 90.4 mph or higher.

The Guardians didn’t offer their pitchers much protection in the field, either:

• Roberto Pérez had his third passed ball in the last two weeks, allowing a runner to move into scoring position with two outs in the first inning.
• Myles Straw and Harold Ramirez nearly collided in the outfield in the fifth inning, as neither of them wanted to back off of a Bo Bichette sac fly.
• In the sixth inning, José Ramírez tried to barehand a slow-rolling bunt. Instead, it rolled past him into shallow left field, putting runners at second and third on a bunt double. The runner at third scored on a sac fly in the next at-bat.
• Bobby Bradley booted a grounder in the seventh inning, allowing Bo Bichette to reach on an error. He then stole second, moving into scoring position.

At the plate, Cleveland had some success against Toronto starting pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu. They struck out eight times, but scattered seven hits over seven innings. Harold Ramirez scored from first in the fourth inning on a two-out double into the right field corner by Bobby Bradley to get the Guardians on the board. In the sixth, Harold Ramirez plated their second run of the game with an RBI double over the head of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in left field.

Not a great night in any aspect of the game for the Guardians.

In other news, Sam Hentges made his first appearance in 12 days, so his family and friends can rest easy tonight knowing that he is alive and well.