Returning from a road trip of any significance with a winning record usually makes for happy faces on the charter ride home. Still, the Toronto Blue Jays likely hauled a little extra baggage back to Rogers Centre after the team’s bats lacked their usual bite, especially during a three-game set with the Kansas City Royals that wrapped Sunday afternoon in the form of a disappointing 7-1 defeat.
After taking three of four from the Houston Astros earlier in the week, the Jays lost their final two contests in Kansas City, leaving the club 4-3 overall on its journey. A few things stood out from the weekend matchup in Missouri, none more so than the offence’s deafening silence.
POWER OUTAGE
While the Jays had been scuffling for a while at the plate, everything came to a head on Sunday when the team did not produce an extra-base knock among its six hits against Royals pitching. It marked the first time in 10 games the Jays failed to register a home run. Incredibly, the 10 round-trippers the club did hit on the road trip were all solo shots, part of a franchise record-setting run that’s seen the past 16 Toronto homers come with nobody on base. Overall, the Blue Birds hit .193, scored 17 runs and struck out 84 times in K.C. and Houston.
THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE
Devon Travis, who had seven dingers on the year when his team landed in Missouri, hit nearly half that many on Friday and Saturday alone. Travis led off the series opener with a long bomb, then book-ended things with a game-winning shot off Kelvin Herrera in the ninth, giving the Jays a 4-3 victory. The next afternoon, the second baseman dug in and promptly provided his team with another 1-0 advantage before a single out was made, becoming the first Toronto player since Damasco Garcia in 1983 to start a game with a homer on consecutive nights.
NICE DEBUT
Friday night marked the first time a newly-acquired pitcher suited up for the Jays and he acquitted himself well. Left-handed starter Francisco Liriano, picked up from the Pittsburgh Pirates prior to the trade deadline, went six innings while surrendering just two earned runs in a no-decision.
SANCHEZ STRUGGLES
If anyone was due for a stinker of an outing, it was Toronto’s starter on Saturday, Aaron Sanchez. The centre of so much talk regarding his immediate future (to the bullpen, not to the bullpen?), Sanchez scuffled through six innings in which he coughed up nine hits and four earned runs. On the flipside, the Jays could get absolutely nothing going against Danny Duffy, the one Royals starter who’s been a tower of strength this season for the defending World Series champs.
ROYALS STILL ROYAL
Kansas City may be out of the playoff chase this year, but the team can still peck you to death at the plate. The Royals had 11 hits on both Saturday and Sunday to keep the lineup moving. In the finale, K.C. did have the benefit of a knockout blow when Kendrys Morales blasted a no-doubt grand slam off Brett Cecil in the seventh.
