TORONTO – Down 5-0 in the seventh inning, the Toronto Blue Jays seemed to be headed for a dispiriting, one-sided loss.
They tied the score with an impressive seventh-inning rally, but the Tampa Bay Rays scored two in the tenth and the Blue Jays still lost for the third time in a row. So while this loss wasn’t as one-sided as it could have been, that doesn’t change the bottom line.
Now 18-24, the Blue Jays are a season-worst six games below .500 and they’ve lost all five of the games they’ve played against the Rays this season. Bit by bit, the losses are piling up for the Blue Jays and the list of concerns is growing longer.
Of course, the loss would have been far more one-sided without a five-run seventh from the Blue Jays. Hits by Ernie Clement, Jesus Sanchez and George Springer got the rally going, but it was a two-run double by Yohendrick Piñango that brought the Blue Jays to within one. One batter later, Junior Caminero made an error and Piñango scored to tie the game.
But while the Rays scored twice in the tenth, the Blue Jays managed just one run in the bottom half of the inning.
To be fair, some teams recover from worse records every year. The problem is, most teams that start like this don’t recover – so if the Blue Jays want to be the exception to prove the rule, they need better results soon.
Those solutions could come from any number of sources. As injured position players like Alejandro Kirk, Nathan Lukes and Addison Barger make their way back this month, the roster will get stronger both on offence and on defence.
But the timeline for others, like Jose Berrios and Max Scherzer, is murkier, meaning the Blue Jays essentially have four and a half starters right now, depending on what they decide to do with Spencer Miles.
As for Corbin, he acquitted himself well enough Tuesday, scattering nine hits over 4.1 innings while allowing three runs. There wasn’t a whole lot of bat missing here – just four swinging strikes and one strikeout – but he continues holding his own as a credible depth starter.
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. contributed a sacrifice fly in the tenth, he was hitless in four at-bats and continues seeking his first extra-base hit in May.
When the topic of Guerrero Jr. came up before the game, manager John Schneider pointed out the work the 27-year-old puts in behind the scenes and noted that some other prominent sluggers are off to slow starts. Then he returned to the question.
“What am I seeing from Vladimir? I think he’s trying to do a lot. He’s trying to do a little bit too much.”
“He wants to be the guy to carry us and the more he does that the harder it gets,” Schneider continued. “From a swing standpoint, I feel like he’s just a tick off with his timing, with his load, his bat tip. And they’re pitching him tough. It’s like hard sinkers in (and) breaking balls away. He’s got to just have a game or two to kind of get himself going.”
As for the Blue Jays’ defence, Daulton Varsho made a tremendous catch in centre field in the tenth, but there were other moments where balls evaded the likes of Varsho, Ernie Clement and Davis Schneider, continuing a trend of hit-and-miss defence.
As a team, the Blue Jays ranked seventh in MLB in outs above average entering play Tuesday. But while the numbers are respectable, those who know this team understand that there’s another level of defensive performance possible here.
“Totally,” Schneider said. “You want to just make a couple more plays or play a little bit tighter, give yourself a chance to come back. And there’s games that we’ve just straight out gotten beat. But I think the (defensive) expectation for this group is higher than what they’ve shown for sure.”