Blue Jays have no choice but to find same resolve Rangers have shown in series

TORONTO – The news officially dropped a couple of hours before game time and it was a major blow for the Texas Rangers — ace right-hander Max Scherzer to the 15-day injured list with a right teres major muscle strain, done for the regular season and unlikely to pitch in the post-season.

Already beset by injuries and trying to undo the damage of a 4-16 stretch that ceded top spot in the American League West to the Houston Astros, their road forward suddenly became a whole lot tougher.

“This clubhouse has been unbelievable through all the injuries we’ve had, especially this second half, and we’ll continue to persevere, focus forward and that’s who they are,” manager Bruce Bochy said, rejecting any hint of woe-is-me sentiment after losing yet another top-of-the-rotation starter. “They've shown how resilient they can be all year. The resolve in them, it’s something I’m very proud of, how these guys have not dwelled on injuries or setbacks, things like that.”

The Rangers then went out and demonstrated just that, Nathaniel Lowe and Robbie Grossman taking Yusei Kikuchi deep while Jordan Montgomery cruised through seven shutout innings in a 10-0 pounding of the Toronto Blue Jays, who must now find the same resolve shown by their guests.

A third straight loss, this one before a stunningly small Rogers Centre crowd of 25,495 that booed the home side from the mid-point onward, dropped the Blue Jays (80-66) a game-and-a-half back of the wild-card leading Rangers (81-64), and a full-game back of the Seattle Mariners (81-65), who beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.

Since the Mariners, like the Rangers, hold the tiebreaker, they are essentially two games up on the Blue Jays, who’ll look to salvage the finale of a thus-far fruitless four-game set Thursday when Kevin Gausman starts against Nate Eovaldi.

"Everyone knows exactly where we are and we're still right in the thick of the playoff race,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “As tough as the first three games are, you have Kevin Gausman tomorrow and you have to realize that every little thing is important. And the guys understand that. You work all year, all spring to get to this point and you have to enjoy the fact that you're right in the middle of it. Again, the first three games, not great, tonight especially, but you move forward to tomorrow and there's going to be huge games after tomorrow, too."

Very much so, as the Boston Red Sox, against whom they’re 3-7 so far, check-in for three games beginning Friday before six games versus each of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, whom they’re both 3-4 against, close out the year.

If the Blue Jays are who they say they are, this is the time to prove it.

"We need to move on, not dwell on the past,” said George Springer. “Obviously you want to win and you need to win and you want to play better. But at the end of the day, the game's over. So let's learn from it and we'll hand the ball to Gausman tomorrow and we'll see what happens."

The Rangers, now winners of five straight, are emerging from a period of struggle that similarly tested them. Consider that in the span of a week at the end of July they lost the spectacular Corey Seager, Heim and Eovaldi to injury, having earlier in the year lost starters Jacob deGrom and Jake Odorizzi for the year.

Josh Jung and Brad Miller went down at the beginning of August while Adolis Garcia, who had been leading the American League in RBIs with 100 at the time, hit the IL last week. No wonder they only won four times in three weeks.

Losing Scherzer, acquired in a deadline blockbuster meant to bolster a rotation in need of a stabilizer, is in that sense old hat. How they cover his spot is a moving target — Andrew Heaney, a Blue Jays target this off-season, Martin Perez and Cody Bradford are candidates to move from the bullpen to the rotation, and Bochy mentioned that the Rangers could use an opener, too.

Regardless, they didn’t let his loss deflate them, jumping Kikuchi in his second time through the order when Seager, a game-changing force in this series, walked to open the fourth. Grossman, who opened the scoring with a two-run homer off Hyun Jin Ryu in Tuesday’s 6-3 Rangers win, followed with a base hit and one out later, Heim’s RBI single opened the scoring.

Kikuchi couldn’t limit the damage there, instead serving up a three-run shot to Lowe that made it 4-0. In the fifth, Seager played catalyst again with a one-out single ahead of Grossman’s two-run shot that made it 6-0. An Evan Carter RBI single in the sixth and a Mitch Garver three-run drive in the ninth completed the pounding.

“I knew how important this game was, so really wanted to win,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “The balls were catching a little bit too much of the plate. Things didn't go too well. Just wanted to win. That's the biggest thing.”

The homers showed off the kind of big-blow offence the Blue Jays have lacked all season, a gap especially glaring when they face elite competition.

While their power took a hit with injuries to Matt Chapman, who did another full day of work Wednesday and could be back this weekend, and Danny Jansen, who is done for the season after surgery to repair a finger fracture, at issue is right now they lack a driving force in the lineup akin to Seager.

Bo Bichette was having that calibre of season until he suffered patellar tendonitis in his right knee July 31 against Baltimore and later a right quad strain Aug. 27, returning Friday. To expect him to pick right up where he left off is unrealistic and he’s now in an 0-for-16 slide, heading right to the batting cage after the game to get more swings in.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was in the batting cage deep into the night Monday and on the field early Wednesday, ended an 0-for-11 rut with an infield single in the first, but made outs in his next two at-bats. Springer, meanwhile, is 3-for-11 in the series, the trio receiving some boos during a three-up, three-down sixth.

“They expect us to win and that's fair,” Springer said of the boos. “Everybody understands that. There's nobody that wants to win more than us in this locker room. I don't think it's for lack of effort. I know that the guys in here are trying. We're doing our best. It may not seem that way because of the result. At the end of the day, it's understandable. Guys expect to play better. And I know the fans do, too.”

Santiago Espinal and Ernie Clement led the way with two singles apiece, but they’re not supposed to carry the lineup and there was precious little offence to speak of beyond them. At the same time, the pitching that’s carried them for so much of the year hasn’t been there, either, compounding the problem.

“Baseball's tough. You just want guys to be who they are and I think that there've been some ebbs and flows with individuals,” said Schneider. “There's been ebbs and flows with the team. And it seems to have happened, whether it's pitching or offence, at inopportune times. That's been kind of the story of where we are at this point. But again, have to continue to look forward, right? It's not all that bad. But I just think the inconsistencies have come at very inopportune times.”

The inevitable by-product of inconsistency is adversity and the Blue Jays are certainly facing an intense dose of it right now, testing their mettle in a big way.

Their opponent across the diamond has also stared down challenges and found ways to overcome, providing an example for the Blue Jays, who need to dig in and do the same.