Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt’s shutout streak ended at 28.2 innings when he gave up three runs in the second inning on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays pushed across a run after Randy Arozarena doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning, advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a two-out error by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Christian Bethancourt lined a ball up the middle to Whit Merrifield who made a low throw to first that Guerrero Jr. was unable to dig out of the dirt.
The very next batter, Jose Siri launched a two-run homer to centre field, but since the error came with two outs, all of Bassitt's runs allowed remain unearned.
The Blue Jays' righty wouldn't give up an earned run until Arozarena hit a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth.
All said, Bassitt went 6.1 innings in a 6-4 loss, allowing seven hits and six runs — only two earned — while striking out four and walking one.
Bassitt’s streak goes down as the third-longest in Blue Jays history. Dave Stieb pitched 34 consecutive scoreless innings in a streak that started in 1988 and finished in 1989, while Roger Clemens didn’t allow a run for 33 innings in a row in 1998.
Bassitt’s scoreless run started after he gave up four runs in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners on April 30. He went on to pitch four scoreless innings that game before not allowing a run in starts against the Pittsburgh Pirates (seven innings, May 5), Atlanta Braves (nine innings, May 12) and New York Yankees (seven innings, May 17).
The complete game versus the Braves, a two-hitter, was the first nine-inning shutout for the Blue Jays since 2015.
After a disastrous first outing in which he gave up nine runs in 3.1 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bassitt made it through at least six innings in eight of his next nine starts.
The Blue Jays signed Bassitt, 34, to a three-year, $63-million deal in December after he went 15-9 with a 3.42 ERA last year with the New York Mets.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.