There’s been a lot of attention focused on Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo’s decision not to start his ace, Hyun Jin Ryu, in game one of the three game wildcard series. Ryu would pitch game two, which is probably worth about as much as game one, so it’s hard to say just how much that decision matters.
But Montoyo also made an in-game decision in game one that definitely hurt the Blue Jays chances, in a concrete way.
In the seventh inning, trailing by a run with two outs and runners on first and second against Rays relief ace Nick Anderson, Montoyo pinch hit Joe Panik for Jonathan Villar.