It was an ugly sight Monday for Jays fans who stayed up late and watched an epic collapse.
A lot of Blue Jays fans in the eastern time zone would have headed off to bed on Monday with thoughts of a 7-0 lead after five innings fuelling their dreams.
But on a night where not one of the six relievers that John Farrell was forced to trot out of the left field bullpen could find the strike zone, the Jays suffered one of the worst collapses in team history and lost to the offensively-challenged Mariners 8-7.
Where does one start when assessing blame on how this laugher, in which the Jays picked up 12 hits and seven of them off reigning A.L. Cy Young award winner (King) Felix Hernandez, turned into a nightmare?
Well, I guess you start with the starter, Jesse Litsch, who wiggled his way out of many tight spots in a classic "five and fly" performance, in which he averaged 22 pitches per inning to get his 15 outs against a team hitting .215 and scoring 3.2 runs per game.
That short outing caused an already taxed bullpen to come into a game far too early. Jason Frasor could only throw 10 strikes among his 20 pitches in the sixth. Carlos Villanueva, who came into the game without having given up a hit in his first six innings as a Blue Jay, served up a solo home run to always-angry Milton Bradley to cut the lead to six.
Watch the Blue Jays vs. Mariners live Tuesday on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.
But after Villanueva, a succession of relievers couldn’t throw strikes.
David Purcey, expected to fill the massive hole left by the free-agent defection of Scott Downs, started pouring fuel on the fire by throwing 10 of his 16 pitches for balls while loading up the bases.
Octavio Dotel was next, walking both batters he faced to force in two runs.
Up next, Marc Rzepczynski, who walked in another run and gave up an RBI single while throwing just three strikes among his 10 pitches.
And finally, Shawn Camp, not expected to be used after having already pitched in six of the club’s first nine games, momentarily restored order by inducing a first-pitch, double-play grounder for the second time on the road trip.
But in the ninth, Victoria, BC’s Michael Saunders, who led off the five-run eighth with a base hit, started off the ninth with a ringing double into the right field corner and then came in to score, along with Ichiro Suzuki, on light-hitting Luis Rodriguez’s walk-off, two-run single over a shallow outfield.
For the second time on this road trip, a loss was snapped out of the jaws of victory only umpire Bob Davidson couldn’t take the blame for this one.
No, this one fell squarely at the feet of the bullpen who, until this frigid April night, had been the best in baseball through the first two weeks of the schedule. But an inability to throw strikes (six relievers threw 56 balls against 47 strikes) caused the Jays to fall to .500 after their solid 4-2 start to the season, while watching their collective bullpen ERA jump from a microscopic 1.11 to 3.00.
And with Brandon Morrow and Frank Francisco creeping their way back towards the Majors on rehab assignments, the dominoes will soon start falling and there should be some nervous members of the pitching staff.
Update: On Tuesday the Jays designated David Purcey for assignment and recalled RHP Casey Janssen and LHP Brad Mills from triple-A Las Vegas.
Jo-Jo Reyes will likely be the odd-man out, joining the bullpen along with Francisco. Purcey certainly didn't help his case by allowing seven base runners out of the 14 batters he’s faced. No longer a prospect at the age of 28, he was certainly on the bubble, especially due to his inability to consistently throw strikes.
Let’s also remember that manager John Farrell has no previous allegiances to anyone on this staff having just joined the organization so outside of Ricky Romero and Kyle Drabek, no pitcher should feel they’ve got it made in the shade.
And with general manager Alex Anthopoulos also in attendance, the timing of the collapse couldn’t have been worse.
Over the course of a long, 162-game schedule, there are going to be nights like Tuesday’s. The Jays just have to believe that it was an isolated incident.
Luckily, the majority of their fans had gone to bed and didn’t have to witness the carnage.
