TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays‘ pitching staff had a game to forget Saturday.
On an extremely hot day at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays allowed a season-worst 14 runs to the Seattle Mariners, disappointing a crowd of 47,517. First, R.A. Dickey had his worst start of the season. Then Jesse Chavez and Drew Storen combined to allow eight runs in relief. Three hours and 18 minutes later, the Blue Jays lost 14-5, falling to 54-44 on the season.
Dickey’s difficulty finding the strike zone got him into trouble repeatedly. He hit Seth Smith and Robinson Cano to load the bases in the third inning, at which point Nelson Cruz crushed a grand slam into the centre field backdrop. Just like that Dickey was in trouble on a day his knuckleball felt pretty good leaving his hand.
“It happened very quickly,” Dickey said. “It was just a really bizarre outing, but there are certainly some things from the outing I can learn from and hopefully get better from.”
Franklin Morales replaced Dickey and promptly induced a double play and a pop up in his first big league appearance since April 6. Manager John Gibbons liked what he say from Morales, whose fastball was in the 87 mph range Saturday. Still, the damage was done by then. Dickey allowed six earned runs on seven hits in three innings on a day his season ERA climbed to 4.44.
After two strong innings from Morales, the Blue Jays’ pitching faltered again. Jesse Chavez allowed base hits to the first five hitters he faced, retired the sixth on a double play and allowed a long two-run homer to the seventh. By the time the Blue Jays pulled Chavez he’d recorded two outs and allowed five runs.
Two innings later Storen walked the leadoff batter — an obvious faux pas in an 11-2 game — then allowed the Cano double that set up Cruz’s second home run of the day. That the Blue Jays called on Storen down nine reflects a lack of trust in a reliever who was initially expected to be a key setup piece. Instead, he’s limited to low-leverage innings while the front office continues weighing potential trades for middle relievers.
“It was one of those games, and everybody gets caught up in it,” Gibbons said. “The encouraging part was I thought Morales looked pretty good.”
Though the Blue Jays’ bats struggled early on, they did get two big swings from their All-Star outfielder. Michael Saunders has 19 home runs on the season, which ties his career high, set in 2012 when he played for Seattle. He has now homered three times in two games against the Mariners, who drafted him in 2004.
“He’s having a tremendous year,” Gibbons said. “That’s really when Michael’s going good, when he’s driving the ball to that opposite-field gap. He was in a little bit of a rut where he was too much in hooking mode. That’s a good sign for us.”
Justin Smoak added a home run of his own, hitting a two run shot against former Blue Jays minor leaguer Wade LeBlanc once the game was out of hand.
Devon Travis continued impressing at the plate with a three-hit day and more stellar fielding at second base. The Blue Jays have done more than their share of mixing and matching at second base in recent years, but with Travis and Darwin Barney each performing well they’re now enjoying some enviable depth at the position.
Reinforcements are on the way for Toronto, with Jose Bautista expected to return from his rehab assignment Monday. The Blue Jays could have activated Chris Colabello Saturday, as his 80-game suspension for using a performance-enhancing substance has ended, but they are keeping him at triple-A for now while he finds his rhythm at the plate. With no clear need for another first base type, the Blue Jays designated Colabello for assignment in a technical move that removes him from the active 25-man roster.
This time of year everyone’s contemplating ways to get better. For now, though, there’s just the ugliness of a lopsided loss.