SAN DIEGO – Six outs away from a hard-fought win on the road, the Toronto Blue Jays handed the ball to Jeff Hoffman.
Tyler Rogers had just pitched a clean seventh. Louis Varland was mentally preparing himself for the ninth. Within reach: a series win, a 5-4 road trip and a strong finish to a challenging first half.
But Xander Bogaerts led off the inning with a single and promptly stole second. Manny Machado then singled home Bogaerts to tie the game 4-4 and pinch runner Jase Bowen stole another base against Hoffman, setting up a go-ahead sacrifice fly from former Blue Jay Ty France.
Three Mason Miller outs later, the San Diego Padres had defeated the Blue Jays 5-4 and the first half of the season ended with more missed opportunities and frustration. Now 45-51, the Blue Jays are 2.5 games behind the Mariners and Twins for the third American League wild-card berth.
The Padres’ late rally overshadowed a solid start from Kevin Gausman and a clutch, go-ahead RBI single from Jonatan Clase, who turned around a 100 m.p.h. fastball from Adrian Morejón in the top of the eighth after the Padres walked pinch hitter Alejandro Kirk to face him.
Yes, the Blue Jays are still in contention, but this isn’t what they envisioned when the season started. They rank among the bottom five in baseball in runs scored and have too often gotten in their own way – with Sunday’s blown save by Hoffman the latest such example.
The right-hander has now allowed 13 of 16 stolen base attempts to be successful.
With each loss, the pressure builds. No team has ever earned a wild-card berth with fewer than 83 wins. To reach that number, the Blue Jays would have to go 38-28 from here on – while also relying on their AL rivals to continue scuffling.
Gausman lost the strike zone in the second inning, walking two hitters, including one with the bases loaded on the way to three runs.
But he found the zone again with a three-up, three-down third and stayed on the attack afterwards, allowing just two more baserunners over the next four innings.
The right-hander’s velocity was also up, with an average fastball of 95.1 m.p.h. on a day he touched 97. That fastball velo paired well with his splitter, which generated nine swinging strikes, including the final pitch he threw to Jake Cronenworth.
From here, the Blue Jays go in two directions. One chartered jet will fly back to Toronto while another will carry players, coaches and staff to Philadelphia where they’ll be well represented at Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
The upcoming festivities are a chance to celebrate what’s gone right for the Blue Jays. But with just 45 wins heading into the second half, the focus will have to flip rapidly from celebration to production if the Blue Jays are going to stay in contention for long.