The Toronto Blue Jays flew to Anaheim to take on the Los Angeles Angels in a three game series. Game one brought the new addition of Will Wagner, son of the great lefty closer Billy Wagner. The infielder was called up from Triple-A Buffalo before making his big league debut on Monday. Wagner was acquired in a trade with the Houston Astros in July. In 2024, he hit .315 with six homers, 43 RBIs and an OPS of .876 in 77 games between Triple-A Buffalo and Sugar Land.
For Monday night, the Blue Jays sent Bowden Francis (4-3, 5.44) to face Davis Daniel (1-3, 6.04) for the Angels. Daniel threw 5 innings, allowing four runs over eight hits, walking two and striking out five while taking his fourth loss of the year. Francis, on the other hand, was dominant. The right hander threw 7 innings, allowing just one run on one hit, walking none and punching out eight to earn his fifth victory of the year.
The majority of the scoring took place in the 3rd inning. Starting in the top half, the Blue Jays struck first, getting on the board with an RBI double from Spencer Horwitz. Will Wagner then singled in Horwitz for his first career big league RBI to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. Fellow rookie Leo Jimenez then got a milestone of his own, hitting his first major league homer, a two run shot to double the Toronto lead to 4-0.
The Angels got one run back in the bottom of the 3rd, which happened to be the only hit Bowden Francis gave up in his spectacular outing. Mickey Moniak hit a solo shot to make it 4-1.
The score would remain the same until the bottom of the 9th, when Chad Green came into the game and gave up a lead off solo shot to Jo Adel, cutting the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-2. Green would then get three outs in the next three batters to notch his 12th save in 12 tries this year. Final score, 4-2 Blue Jays.
The story on Monday night was most certainly the big league debut of Will Wagner. The 26 year old went 3 for 4 and started at second base against the Angels. A double in the 2nd, an RBI single in the 3rd, another single in the 5th, and the fly out in the 7th. With his performance, Wagner became the fourth player in Blue Jays’ history to collect three hits in his MLB debut, alongside Danny Ainge (1979), Pat Borders (1988), and J.P. Arencibia (2010).
The Blue Jays will look to take the series with a win over the Angels on Tuesday night, Kevin Gausman (10-8, 4.42) will be on the bump for Toronto as Carson Fulmer (0-2, 3.74) will get the start for Los Angeles.
