The Toronto Blue Jays were unable to deliver a victory to their fans on Canada Day Monday.
The only team with the Maple Leaf in major league baseball lost 3-1 to the Houston Astros, who are visiting Rogers Centre for a four-game series.
The visitors opened the scoring in the sixth inning with a solo homer by Jeremy Pena. Three innings later, Yordan Alvarez threw the ball out of bounds with teammate Alex Bregman already on base.
Down 3-0 and with one more at-bat, the Jays had little room to rally. Ernie Clement gave the fans some hope, however, with a solo home run. The next batter, Addison Barger, hit a fly out, and the game ended in a dead heat for the home team.
On the mound, starter Yariel Rodriguez (0-3) will have to wait a little longer before signing his first win in 2024. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up one run, two hits and two walks in six and two-thirds innings of work.
The win went to Astros starter Hunter Brown (6-5), who allowed just two hits and no runs in six innings. Overall, the Toronto team had just four hits.
In addition, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was not in the Jays’ lineup for this game. The star player was hit by a fastball from Gerrit Cole in the third inning of the 8-1 loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday. According to Sportsnet, the son of the former Montreal Expos player is not seriously injured.
The Blue Jays and Astros will meet again on Tuesday evening for the second game of their series.
