CHICAGO – An infield single safe by half a step. A hit-by-pitch that was, at best, a grazed-by-pitch. Then two dunked singles on chase pitches not quite buried far enough, but still off the plate. That’s how blown save No. 6 went down for Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna in Monday’s 7-6, walk-off loss to the Chicago White Sox, an outing that would cause little concern if not for another blown save Saturday.
Osuna was much sharper Monday than in the 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, when he surrendered three runs on two hits and a walk. Against the White Sox he relied mainly on his cutter and slider, generating five swinging strikes in 18 pitches, his velocities right at his season norms.
“Probably not in the one at home, but this one, yeah, I felt normal,” said Osuna. “I missed location but it was still a good pitch. I felt great out there, I’m feeling great. I don’t know. It’s baseball right? Nothing I can do about it. I broke three bats. I missed location on a couple of them, but it still was a good pitch.”
Adam Engel’s infield single came on a 1-2 slider, his weak chopper to third fielded nicely by third baseman Josh Donaldson, whose strong, on-the-run throw was a hair late. Leury Garcia was then barely nicked by a slider to put two men on, and after Tyler Saladino struck out on three pitches, Jose Abreu poked a 1-0 slider to right in front of a charging Jose Bautista to tie the game up. The ball had a hit probability of 22 per cent.
Matt Davidson, the next batter, worked the count full before catching a cutter and dropping it into centre field to end the game.
“They kind of bled him to death,” said manager John Gibbons. “They got some key hits, the one that started it all was the infield chopper, and then the hit batter kind of opened it up. Then with two outs Abreu dunked it in – that’s good hitting.
“I don’t think he was off, they just found some holes and had some good at-bats.”
DEADLINE TOLL: J.A. Happ walked through the Blue Jays dugout shortly after the non-waiver trade deadline passed Monday afternoon, smiled at a couple of reporters and said, “Still here.”
Even for players who don’t get moved during baseball’s swapfest, the left-hander’s quip demonstrates how the rumours and speculation can make an impact. Happ – part of trade-deadline deals on July 29, 2010 that sent him from Philadelphia to Houston and on July 20, 2012 from Houston to Toronto – heard his name float up over the weekend and again Monday, leaving him to deal with the uncertainty.
“Not to the extent of some other deadlines for me personally, but I know from the past it can be a stressful time for sure,” said Happ. “It’s such a weird thing. I remember my first trade, I was sitting in the (Phillies) clubhouse and for whatever reason, they had to wait another hour to officially announce it, so I was eating with my teammates and it comes across (the ticker on TV) that I was traded and I haven’t been officially told yet. That was my first trade so it was especially tough.
“You don’t want to believe it’s true until the reality sets in and you get called into that office. The more times you go through it the better you handle it.”
Given that Happ is still under contract for one more year and that the Blue Jays aim to contend in 2018, trading him wouldn’t have made much sense without a boffo return. Already with a couple spots to fill in the rotation with Marco Estrada a pending free agent and Francisco Liriano traded away, opening up another hole is far from ideal. But GM Ross Atkins noted that he had hundreds of conversations with other teams exhausting all opportunities.
“I had talked to Ross in Boston so we were on the same page,” said Happ. “I always know it’s a possibility but, honestly, I was hoping there wasn’t much to it and it turned out to be that way. This is where I want to be, some people may just say that but that’s really how I feel, that’s why I signed here, so I’m happy to still be here.”
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Setup man Joe Smith felt the same about Toronto, but ended up traded to Cleveland. His name was in the rumour mill for a while and he’d been coping with it well until Monday, when he came to the ballpark at 12:30 p.m CT.
“Today was a struggle,” Smith said after getting the news from Atkins. “I don’t think I’ve ever come to the ballpark at 12:30 for a 7 o’clock game.”
Smith was on the field, working out when pitching coach Pete Walker called him over and told him Atkins was trying to get in touch with him. Taking the field was a way “to stop thinking, I didn’t want to sit in the clubhouse and listen to all the stuff. Put some headphones in and get lost for a little while.”
“I loved my time in Toronto,” Smith added, but a return home to Cleveland, which is leading the AL Central, was the best landing spot for him. “That’s why we play.”
As for Estrada, bothered for a while by his status as trade bait, he tried his best to prepare for a start Monday night as usual, pushing away his phone and avoiding TVs to shut out the speculation.
“If my phone rang, that was the only thing that was going to worry me, I guess, but I didn’t really pay attention to any of it,” he said. “I was getting ready to pitch and my phone never rang so I was ready to go.”
SHORT HOPS: Aaron Sanchez did some throwing Monday for the first time since his blister issues resurfaced in Boston two weeks ago. … Reliever Danny Barnes (shoulder impingement) threw a bullpen Sunday and is starting to make progress. … Reliever Bo Schultz, who underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring, rejoined the Blue Jays in his native Chicago on Monday and played catch for the first time since.
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