Going into Kansas City and winning a series against the defending American League champions is a tall task. The fact that the Toronto Blue Jays weren’t able to do it shouldn’t be particularly surprising, or even concerning.
But the way they dropped two games at Kauffman Stadium over the weekend most certainly is.
Whether they were struggling to create offence or contain it, nothing seemed to go right. Even a miraculous comeback on Sunday ultimately fell short because a combination of poor defence and shaky relief pitching couldn’t preserve a lead.
The Blue Jays were able to record a win on Saturday thanks in large part to an excellent start from Mark Buehrle, but the series was undoubtedly an ugly one for the Blue Jays, especially because it dropped them below the .500 mark.
Here are five takeaways from the series loss:
The Jose Reyes roller coaster is here to stay: Jose Reyes collected seven hits and three stolen bases in this series, yet he struggled with the glove on multiple occasions. Reyes projects to be an above-average shortstop with the bat and on the bases, but his defence is a problem right now.
At 32 he doesn’t have the range he used to, but of late his biggest issue has been with routine plays. This may wind up being a short-term blip, but for now he is costing his team runs and drawing the ire of fans.
It doesn’t help his case that the two errors he made Sunday were virtually identical, both resulting from him pulling his glove up too soon and watching the ball go underneath.
Reyes remains the best option for the Blue Jays at shortstop, and the total package is a good player, but frustrating defensive gaffes come with the territory right now.
Mark Buehrle is pitching like an ace: As a 36-year-old who struggles to throw 85 mph Buehrle is no one’s idea of an ace. He is pitching like one, though. After getting off to a rough start he’s been magnificent for the last couple of months.
The last time the southpaw allowed more than four runs was May 1 and he’s allowed two or fewer in eight straight starts. This run isn’t going to last forever, but he’s keeping his team in games and allowing the bullpen to stay fresh.
For a team with a potent offence like the Blue Jays that’s more than enough; they’re 11-7 in his starts.
Velocity isn’t everything: Buehrle’s success is plenty of evidence to support this notion, but there was another reminder on Sunday in the form of Paolo Orlando’s game-winning home run.
Orlando, a 29-year-old rookie who came into the game with two career round-trippers, seemed like an improbable candidate to destroy a 96 mph fastball from Bo Schultz, but that ended up being the difference in the game.
While lighting up the radar gun has its uses, it’s all a moot point if you can’t keep the ball away from the heart of the plate.
The Blue Jays need to miss more bats: There are a lot of issues with this team’s pitching of late, but one of the most significant ones is the inability to strike out opposing hitters. The Blue Jays rank 23nd in the majors with an 18.6 percent strikeout rate and they managed to retire only 10 Royals on strikes in the entire series.
Opponents are putting more than their fair share of balls in play and the Blue Jays’ sometimes-leaky defence is overexposed at times. Striking out more hitters is far easier said than done, but Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Drew Hutchison are all sporting K/9 marks below their career averages. There could be a rebound around the corner.
John Gibbons should be wary of sending Ryan Goins: The Blue Jays’ final out on Sunday was Salvador Perez catching Goins stealing at second base. That’s never how you want to end a game, especially considering Goins hasn’t successfully stolen a base yet in 169 games at the major-league level.
The play was almost certainly a hit-and-run, but Goins is deceptively slow for such an athletic fielder and it doesn’t seem prudent to put yourself in a position where the game may depend on him swiping a base.
To make matters worse, he demonstrated questionable larceny instincts on the play with a slide that took him extremely far outside the bag in a vain attempt to dodge the tag.
