Blue Jays head into telling stretch after dropping series to Mariners

TORONTO – Back on steadier ground after capitalizing on the extended respite of a soft spot in the schedule, the Toronto Blue Jays head into a more telling stretch that includes six games over the next 10 days against the Tampa Bay Rays before the all-star break.

A 7-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday left them at 41-38, five games behind their divisional nemesis for a wild-card spot. An 8-3 run after a five-game losing streak helped narrow the gap with the Rays, who arrive for the first of three at Sahlen Field on Friday. But in dropping two of three to the Mariners, the Blue Jays fell to 21-28 versus teams above .500, a trend they must correct if they are intent on a return to the post-season.

The Rays, at 5-2 against them so far, are largely responsible for that disparity, especially after a four-game sweep on May 21-24 in Dunedin, Fla., in which the Blue Jays blew a lead and/or lost in the final inning three times, with the decisive run coming during the eighth the other time.

The Blue Jays are also 4-5 against the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox, having blown a ninth-inning lead in their last meeting, and they’re probably going to need to catch one of those teams to make the playoffs. Better head-to-head results are crucial in that regard, as is correcting the five-game gap between their expected win-loss record, based on a run differential of plus-64, and their actual record in the standings.

“I feel really good about how we have competed with the Rays and the Red Sox,” general manager Ross Atkins said earlier this week. “We’ve been in, I believe, almost every game with them and lost several of them that we should have, could have won. I’m not a big believer in luck. I think that’s why we do it 162 times. What’s important is that we’re competitive and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Finding success within the narrower margins of play against top clubs is easier said than done, especially with the bullpen such an erratic work in progress. Beyond closer Jordan Romano and lefty Tim Mayza, manager Charlie Montoyo is rolling the dice trying to close out games, although new acquisition Adam Cimber will help if he keeps pitching the way he did during his 1.1 innings Thursday.

Getting Tyler Chatwood right is essential, but he was off again Thursday, walking his first two batters before allowing two runs on two hits and lobbying Montoyo to remain in the game when the manager came out to get him. It was Chatwood’s first action since imploding in the eighth inning of a 6-5 loss to Baltimore last Friday, a gap Montoyo said was due to a stiff neck that had him day-to-day for an IL trip, and his struggles have really thinned the leverage crew.

“He was just telling me that he wanted to save the bullpen because he knew the last couple of days, they’ve thrown a lot,” Montoyo said of Chatwood’s words towards him. “And I said, ‘No, you just had a stiff neck, threw 29 pitches, that’s good. (Tayler) Saucedo can give me one out.’”

Injuries have also helped tie Montoyo’s hands and the return of Rafael Dolis (starting a rehab assignment Friday), Ryan Borucki (throwing live BP next week) and Julian Merryweather (throwing bullpens) from the IL would help.

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For now, though, there is opportunity for Patrick Murphy, who gave up the winning homer in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 9-7 loss to Seattle but rebounded with 1.2 scoreless frames in the finale, and Jacob Barnes, who struck out two in a clean inning, among others.

That’s why Montoyo says, “well, it’s going to be all about the bullpen,” when asked to cast forward to the Rays series ahead. “That’s the reason we lost those games (in May). They were all close games because we have been playing well. But then the bullpen struggled in all those games. If the bullpen does a good job, we’re going to have a good chance to beat them.”

The rotation will have a say in that, too, with Alek Manoah returning from his five-game suspension to start Friday’s opener, likely against Luis Patino. Ross Stripling follows against Shane McClanahan with Robbie Ray likely to face Ryan Yarbrough behind an opener Sunday.

Manoah’s suspension meant Hyun-Jin Ryu had to come back on normal rest to face the Mariners on Thursday and he battled command trouble while his changeup issues re-emerged in an 85-pitch, four-inning outing. He was down 2-0 four batters into the game as J.P. Crawford doubled, Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager singled and Ty France delivered a sacrifice fly.

Jake Fraley hit a solo homer on a changeup in the second while Shed Long Jr. turned on a fastball for a two-run homer in the third.

“The command and overall (effectiveness) of my changeup is not like back in April and May, so I stuck a lot with my fastball and cutter,” Ryu said through interpreter J.S. Park. “It’s one of those things I just have to make sure to quickly adjust and try to figure out.”

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Yusei Kikuchi, meanwhile, gave up a leadoff homer to Marcus Semien in the first and then shoved it down the Blue Jays’ throats for the next seven innings, allowing only five hits and a walk with six strikeouts while inducing 10 groundouts, including seven straight after the homer.

The Blue Jays didn’t score again until the eighth when Bo Bichette cashed in a Semien double to cut the Seattle lead to 5-2. But Paul Sewald came on to strike out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and end that threat. The Mariners then added on against Chatwood in the ninth to push things back out of reach.

That proved costly when Teoscar Hernandez and George Springer reached to open the bottom of the ninth, and rather than having the tying run at the plate, the Blue Jays were still in need of more baserunners. Sewald then recovered to strike out the next three batters to seal the win.

“We have been playing good, just the last couple of days our starters struggled and when your pitching struggles,” said Montoyo, “it’s going to be tough to hit every day, and we faced a good starter today.”

That’s going to happen, and it’s easy to turn the page on them. It’s the ones the Blue Jays let get away, like Wednesday’s loss to the Mariners or last Friday’s defeat to the Orioles, that hurt, especially as the calendar advances and the missed opportunities become more costly.

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