TORONTO – The offence won’t always be as plentiful for the Toronto Blue Jays as it was this week against the Philadelphia Phillies, and there will be times when the ability to muck and claw and grind out runs will be the difference between winning and losing.
Case in point was Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, when runs were at a premium for both teams and the decisive margin came around on a Raul Ibanez sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.
The Blue Jays, who scored 38 runs during their five-game winning streak, managed just two runs against starter Garrett Richards on a pair of wild pitches, while a couple potential rallies in which a reasonably deep fly ball or a well-placed grounder would have changed the game went unrealized.
They did get one big blow, when Jose Reyes ripped a game-tying solo homer off set-up man Joe Smith in the eighth to undo a bases-loaded walk by Steve Delabar in the seventh, but for the most part Richards was able to keep them quiet on the rare occasions they developed a threat.
“Richards was pretty good,” said manager John Gibbons. “You hate to lose a game when they take the lead on a walk, but we scored two runs on wild pitches, that’s the way it works sometimes. You definitely need those types of (small-ball) things in tight ball games, but it wasn’t something we didn’t do. That guy, he’s pretty damned good.”
Despite that, the Blue Jays had a chance to steal a win until the ninth, when Brett Cecil surrendered a leadoff triple to Erick Aybar and then had Mike Trout on a grounder to second, but Edwin Encarnacion sloppily didn’t get his foot on the bag in time. After an intentional walk to Albert Pujols, Ibanez hit a fly ball to deep left to cash in Aybar.
That run was the second allowed by the bullpen, which left the Blue Jays down 3-2 in the seventh. A competitive two-out walk to Raul Ibanez by Sergio Santos left the bases loaded for Delabar, who promptly walked Howie Kendrick on four straight pitches that never threatened the strike zone.
Delabar then went 2-0 against Ian Stewart before he recovered with three straight strikes to escape the threat and keep things from getting out of hand.
“It was weird that it wasn’t there,” said Delabar. “I looked at the video, and coming out it just felt good. It just wasn’t anywhere close. Can’t explain it. …
“I felt great. It was one of those days where I thought I was right there. When I released the ball I thought it was in the zone. It was nowhere close. Then Pete (Walker) came out and said, ‘Let’s get it down,’ and obviously after that I was able to work all right.”
The run marred what started as a solid night for Santos, who cruised through a perfect sixth before running into trouble in the seventh. Aybar doubled with one out and after a Trout groundout and intentional walk to Pujols, Santos didn’t get Ibanez to bite on a 3-2 slider.
“I was hoping he would get a little aggressive,” said Santos. “But he’s been in the game for a while, he’s a patient hitter and he laid off a pretty good slider. All I can do is tip my hat to him. …
“I felt great. I threw some really, really good changeups, slider was good and my fastball command was pretty good.”
Dustin McGowan worked hard to get through five innings but handed over a 2-2 game to the bullpen. He gave back a 1-0 lead in the second when he surrendered a two-out Colin Cowgill RBI single, and then fell behind 2-1 in the third on Trout’s solo shot.
“I didn’t have any slider at all, so luckily the changeup got me through,” said McGowan. “It was just one of those games where you go out there and give it everything you got and see what happens.”
Melky Cabrera tied things in the bottom of the third when he singled, stole second on a Jose Bautista strikeout, took third on an Edwin Encarnacion sacrifice fly to centre and crossed on a wild pitch.
Reyes also scored on a wild pitch in the first, as a check-swing strike three on Jose Bautista dribbled away from Hank Conger. An Encarnacion walk put runners on the corners with one out, but Juan Francisco hit a soft liner to second before Adam Lind struck out.
That was one of the potential rallies they needed to do more with, while the other came in the fifth, when with runners on the corners, Jose Bautista hit into an inning-ending double play. He ripped off his helmet and yelled in frustration as he crossed first, likely still livid from a dodgy second strike call from Angel Hernandez, who was his usual erratic self.
The Blue Jays also had a back-and-forth night with replay.
In the fifth, Ibanez was called safe at home by Hernandez but the Blue Jays had that play overturned on replay. Then in the seventh, Gibbons challenged an out call on Chris Getz at first that ended the inning, and while replays suggested at minimum a tie, the call on the field stood.
