Jays take series from Guards

The Toronto Blue Jays came into Cleveland and put a dent in the Guardians' postseason hopes. Toronto won the final two games of the three-game midweek series, including the Sept. 3 matinee.
Cleveland (70-70) won the opener 6-1 as Gavin Williams struck out a career-high 13 and the Guardians got a trio of 2-run homers. But Toronto bounced back to win the Sept. 2 game, 11-0, and the Sept. 3 game, 6-3.
The 11-0 loss was Cleveland’s 14th shutout loss of the year. Cleveland also fell to 33-38 at home after losing 2-out-of-3 to the Blue Jays.
Toronto won the season series between the two clubs, 4-2, giving the Blue Jays the tiebreaker over Cleveland for the wild card. Cleveland holds the third and final wild card spot by 1/2 game over Toronto (70-71).  Cleveland trails Chicago by 3 games for first in the American League Central. Both teams have lost two games in a row.
Cleveland actually led the Sept. 3 game early 1-0, on Angel Genoa’s third-inning single that scored Jo Adell.
Sean Key’s RBI single in the top of the fourth inning tied the affair 1-1.
Tanner Bibee got into big trouble in the fifth inning when he walked the No. 8 hitter, Ernie Clement, and the No. 9 hitter, Brandon Valenzuela, back-to-back to open the inning. Brett Bateman singled to load the bases, and Nathan Lukes followed with a two-run double to make it 3-1.
Cleveland closed the gap to 6-3 on an Autin Hedges two-run single, but Toronto would hold on.
Bibee fell to 5-15 with the loss.
Detroit comes to Cleveland for a weekend series. The four-game series features a day-night doubleheader on Sept. 4, a night game on Sept. 5, and a matinee on Sunday.

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