ARLINGTON, Texas – Finally, runs, a lot of them, and early, too. One in the first, four in the second and another in the third, the Toronto Blue Jays matching their cumulative total from the previous three games in three trips to the plate Sunday against Jon Gray. For an offence seeking a breakthrough, it sure felt like one. After all, how many times in the last month have they been one hit short in a tight loss? Up 6-0, with Chris Bassitt on the mound, they couldn’t have been set up better to bounce from the Lone Star State with a series win in hand.
Only then, they unravelled, a series of miscues combined with an explosion at the plate by the top offence in the majors leading to a stunning 11-7 Texas Rangers victory. A good day at the plate can mask a whole a lot of shortcomings, but the Blue Jays played way too fast and loose in falling for the sixth time in nine outings.
What will hurt after this one is the way they lost as much as the loss itself. The Rangers are atop the AL West for a reason, but the Blue Jays certainly made things easier for them before a crowd of 38,515 at Globe Life Field.
“It comes down to playing in sync,” said manager John Schneider.” Today was a perfect example of that to where the bats were good early and then pitching and attention to detail wasn't. That's kind of what it came down to. You can't let good offences get rolling like that. They did a lot of damage at the bottom of the order and that's a credit to them. But if you're going to get beat, get beat and I think today we just lost.”
Consider the following sampling of laments:
“Sometimes you're trying to be perfect and when you're trying to be perfect, sometimes that's when some miscues happen and you make errors,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron in a sombre clubhouse afterwards. “But we're going out there trying the best to do the best we can.”
No matter, each mistake helped undo the good that came from an outburst at the plate that included a Daulton Varsho sacrifice fly in the first, a two-run single by Whit Merrifield and two-run double by Bichette in the second and run-scoring groundout in the third by Spencer Horwitz, who singled in his career at-bat and added two walks during an impressive debut.
A good day then turned into a bad one in the blink of an eye.
“The fact that we had a sizable lead and that those little plays kind of led to them getting back into the game, they're frustrated,” said Schneider. “We can say, yeah, it's frustrating to have a have a game get turned on you that quickly, not only because of those things, it comes down to executing pitches too, but those things definitely play a part.”
Adding to the woes for the Blue Jays is that Alejandro Kirk was forced from the game in the second after a Gray fastball hit him on the left hand and left him with a laceration that needed two stitches to close and a contusion. X-Rays were negative for a fracture, but catcher Tyler Heineman was pulled from his game at triple-A Buffalo and he’s destined for the taxi squad, at least.
He's expected to meet the Blue Jays (39-34) in Miami, where they are set to close out this nine-game road trip with a three-game series against the Marlins beginning Monday
Jose Berrios is slated to start the opener and length will be needed from him after Bassitt lasted only 3.2 innings. He’d looked to be through three frames unscathed when Lowe’s hard charge up the line pressured Guerrero, whose relay to Bassitt was way wide. Josh Jung’s base hit then brought home one run and Kiermaier fielded the ball and prepared to relay the ball into the infield where no one was covering at second. He lobbed the ball in as Bichette scrambled to the bag and when he didn’t pick the throw clean, Adolis Garcia, who’d walked, scrambled home.
The Blue Jays still led 6-2 at that point, but a two-run Corey Seager double in the fourth plus a Garcia RBI single narrowed the lead to one and ended Bassitt’s day, while Jonah Heim’s solo shot off Nate Pearson to open the fifth tied the game before a Leody Taveras RBI single and Marcus Semien sacrifice fly put the Rangers up for good.
Bassitt, who allowed five runs, only three earned, on seven hits and three walks, shouldered the responsibility, saying “I just didn't locate. There's no momentum, I just didn't locate.” And after making it only three innings while allowing eight runs the last time out against Baltimore, he said simply, “I got to pitch a lot better.”
“I'm putting the entire rotation in a bind because we're running a four-man rotation,” he continued. “Then I come out and do what I do, so it's basically back-to-back bullpen days. Yeah, it's not good.”
That goes for the weekend as a whole for the Blue Jays, who eked out Friday’s opener 2-1, let a decently pitched bullpen game slip away in a 4-2 setback Saturday and then squandered a six-run lead in Sunday’s finale.
“We've got to just tighten things up, whether it's on the mound or in the field,” said Schneider. “You score runs, you have a six-run lead and pitchers are going to have tough days, whether it's Chris or guys out of the ‘pen, it's getting over to first base to cover, it’s just making sure you make a good throw in. We'll reconvene in Miami, talk about that stuff. This is too good a team to let the floodgates open.”
Especially after the runs at long last began to flow.
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