TORONTO – When Bo Bichette returned from the injured list nine days ago it underscored the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays had dodged a bullet. The shortstop was removed in the fourth inning on July 31 and diagnosed with right patella tendinitis and while that looked dire at the time, it turned out things could have been much worse.
Bichette missed only 16 games before rejoining the team for a stretch run that was beginning to intensify. It almost felt as if the Blue Jays, who’ve avoided major injuries this season, unlike several of their American League counterparts, got lucky.
The club will have to hope for similar good fortune again with Bichette leaving Sunday’s game due to right quad tightness. That injury, coupled with third baseman Matt Chapman leaving in the sixth with right middle finger inflammation, added to what was a wrenching 10-7 loss in 11 innings for the Blue Jays at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians in front of 41,978 at Rogers Centre.
Kole Calhoun smacked a two-run double to right-field off Blue Jays reliever Jay Jackson in the 11th inning and Ramon Laureano followed that with a two-run homer to secure the win for the Guardians in the rubber match of the three-game series. With the Houston Astros winning on Sunday, the Blue Jays now sit 2.5 games out of the third wild card spot.
“This is a tough loss,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “It's a (expletive) loss. It comes down to little things but as tough as it is, you got to just regroup and move on.”
Bichette grounded to second base in the fifth inning and jogged gingerly to first. He was replaced by Santiago Espinal at shortstop in the next inning. Schneider said Bichette is day-to-day and will be reassessed Monday.
“He's been feeling it a little bit in his quad,” said Schneider, who noted this injury is “separate” to the knee issue that sidelined Bichette. “[He’s been] playing through it a little bit. So, just wanted to be careful. I don't think he really hurt anything. I think it was just more precaution than anything.”
Chapman, who missed time earlier this month with a right-middle finger injury sustained in the weight room, was removed from the game in the sixth and replaced by pinch-hitter Whit Merrifield. He endured a 10-pitch at-bat in the fourth that included four foul balls. Schneider said that’s what aggravated the third baseman.
“A lot of swings in that at-bat in particular,” said the skipper. “He's been grinding through it. He's going to go get an MRI on it tonight just to kind of check everything out.”
Making the Blue Jays’ loss even more dispiriting was that the club held a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning. Left-hander Tim Mayza entered the game and walked the left-handed hitting Calhoun to open the frame. Laureano doubled and both players were driven in on Andres Gimenez’s double down the right-field line to give the Guardians a 6-5 lead.
“Kind of a weird outing from Timmy, who's been arguably one of the best relievers in the league,” said Schneider. “Leadoff walk is going to hurt you, left on left, and then Laureano, you know double, and then a ball right over the [first-base] bag on a sinker in to a lefty. So, nothing really different, just didn't really go his way today.”
The Blue Jays tied the game on Daulton Varsho’s RBI single in the bottom half of the eighth, but couldn’t score again. In the ninth, Danny Jansen led off with a double, but was erased when Guardians first baseman Calhoun fielded Cavan Biggio’s bunt and made an accurate throw to third. Espinal then grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“It just comes down to executing little things like a bunt,” said Schneider. “Getting the bunt to third as opposed to first. Hell of a play by Calhoun, who's not really a first baseman, and then just kind of, get him over, get him in, you know what I mean?
“Had our chances for sure.”
The Blue Jays’ offence did show signs of waking up with a strong power output on Sunday. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. clubbed a two-run homer into the second deck in the opening frame, while George Springer added a solo shot in the fourth and Davis Schneider contributed a two-run blast in the seventh.
The rookie lifted a 3-1 sinker from Guardians right-hander Noah Syndergaard over the left-field wall for a two-run shot that gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead. It was Schneider’s second homer in as many days and third in three games. The 24-year-old now has five homers in 11 MLB games.
Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi wasn’t at his sharpest but managed to keep the Blue Jays in the game. He surrendered a two-run shot to Jose Ramirez in the second inning that marked the first long ball he’s allowed since July 16 — a span of seven starts.
Calhoun led off the top of the fourth with a double off Kikuchi, Laureano singled and Tyler Freeman lashed an RBI single up the middle to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead. Myles Straw, the No. 9 hitter, added to that with his own run-scoring single to right-centre field.
In total, Kikuchi allowed four runs on six hits over six innings. He walked two, struck out eight and generated 13 whiffs over his 95 pitches.
The left-hander said the club must now turn its focus to Monday, when the Blue Jays welcome the 61-70 Washington Nationals to Rogers Centre for a three-game set.
“We just gotta give it our best,” Kikuchi said. “We lost today, but we just got to flip the page and move on to tomorrow. We just got to be as a unit and just move forward and just give it our all every day.”
Schneider echoed that sentiment.
“We came up short today, but guys are in it,” said the manager. “Guys are guys are grinding. So, you got to just keep doing that. And flip the page to tomorrow.”
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