ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Until the Toronto Blue Jays generate some more offence, it’s going to be awfully tough to take advantage of the strong starting pitching they’re getting.
Three hits are almost never enough, even when two of them are home runs, as they were in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The walk-off defeat capped off a month in which the defending AL East champions were outscored by the opposition on the way to an 11-14 record.
Not that the Blue Jays’ bullpen has matched the success of the rotation, either. All told, it’s been a frustrating month.
“Sooner or later you’ve got to win some close games for crying out loud,” manager John Gibbons said. “No secret about that. Some teams do it.”
Another tough outing for Brett Cecil capped off the loss, giving the left-hander an MLB-worst 0-5 record that’s as surprising as it is unsightly. The rally started when Brad Miller somehow beat Cecil and Justin Smoak to first base for an infield single that eventually came around to score. One way or another the Blue Jays missed a chance at a much different-looking inning.
“We didn’t get an out, plain and simple,” Gibbons said. “(Cecil’s) still got to get there, and I thought Smoak maybe had a shot at it, too.”
Kevin Kiermaier followed with a double and Curt Casali walked it off with a single, leaving Cecil frustrated and a little puzzled. Despite the poor results, his stuff feels good — much better than it did this time last year.
“That’s the worst part about it,” he said. “You feel great, you’re throwing the (crap) out of the ball and you’re still getting these results.”
Cecil points to his velocity, which has ticked up of late, and suggests better results are coming.
“You’re touching mid-nineties as a left-hander and (yet) the hits keep coming,” he said.
To be fair, Cecil’s record looks much worse than he’s pitched. His track record also suggests he’s capable of far more. After all, it was just last year that he went three-plus months without allowing an earned run. For now he intends to focus on process instead of dwelling on an ERA that climbed to 5.79 Saturday.
“As long as I’m feeling good, what are you going to do?” he said. “I’m not going to sit at my locker and pout about it. Relievers have got to have short memories. For some guys it’s one of the hardest things, and it is hard, but I do have a short memory.”
Given the run of frontline pitchers the Blue Jays have been facing, expecting them to break out at the plate this week may have been unrealistic. Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Drew Smyly and Chris Archer are among the better American League pitchers. Still, the Blue Jays could have expected more than this.
Jose Bautista homered and Kevin Pillar homered and doubled. That’s it.
Though Archer walked four of the first 11 batters he faced, he recovered and pitched six reasonably strong innings. He allowed just one hit — the Bautista home run — while striking out four and allowing two runs. It wasn’t a sharp outing, but it was nonetheless effective against Toronto’s slow-starting bats.
J.A. Happ continued his strong start to the season with three earned runs in 6.2 innings for his fifth quality start in as many outings. The left-hander set a season high with seven strikeouts while walking three and allowing six hits, the last of which came off the bat of Logan Forsythe, who continues to impress at the plate. One night after picking up two hits against Aaron Sanchez, Forsythe capped off a three-hit day by homering off of Happ. One hit batter later, Happ’s day ended in frustrating fashion.
“I thought he was great,” Gibbons said. “He had great stuff tonight. He pitched like he’s been doing all year. He deserved to win that game.”
Happ’s strong start capped off a month in which Blue Jays starters exceeded expectations as a group. They combined for a 3.81 ERA, well below the MLB starters’ average of 4.11. Too often, though, the bullpen and bats were unable to make the most of those starts.
