TORONTO – Mark Lowe’s Toronto Blue Jays debut was as surprising as it was disappointing.
The reliever allowed three earned runs Saturday, just one shy of the total he’d allowed all season with the Seattle Mariners. To say that he’s capable of more would be an understatement considering he arrived in Toronto with a 1.00 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 36 innings.
“He’s had a hell of a year, that’s not going to make or break his career in Toronto,” manager John Gibbons said. “They’ve got a heck of a ballclub on the other side.”
The rough eighth inning ultimately cost the Blue Jays, who lost 7-6 to the Kansas City Royals in front of 37,932 at Rogers Centre. At times the game had a playoff-like atmosphere.
Lowe says he made a bad pitch to Ben Zobrist, who homered to tie the score at five. Now the right-hander intends to put the rough outing behind him.
“I have the reliever mentality,” Lowe said. “The sun’s going to come up tomorrow. We’ve got a brand-new game.”
Toronto’s MLB-leading offence made it close when Jose Bautista became the first hitter to homer against Wade Davis in nearly two years. But the home run, Bautista’s second of the game and 23rd of the season, was all the Blue Jays would manage against Kansas City’s dominant bullpen.
The Blue Jays rallied in the ninth inning, when Troy Tulowitzki drew a pinch-hit walk off of Greg Holland and Chris Colabello, another pinch-hitter, singled. But walking off once against the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen is hard enough. Doing it in consecutive games proved to be too much.
“We came up short today, but the guys keep battling, I know that,” Gibbons said.
Back to back homers from Josh Donaldson and Bautista gave the Blue Jays an early lead, which they eventually handed to Lowe in the hopes that he could extend Toronto’s win streak to four. Instead, the AL Central-leading Royals rallied and the Blue Jays fell to 53-52 on the season.
Zobrist hit two home runs for Kansas City, including the game-tying shot against Lowe that sparked the three-run eighth inning rally.
Mark Buehrle delivered another strong start, pitching seven innings of five-hit ball while striking out three. He allowed four runs, of which three were earned, while throwing 89 pitches. The left-hander took a stinging line drive off of his leg, but stayed in the game once he determined that he’d still be able to pitch.
After a busy trade deadline at which the Blue Jays reinforced their roster with five newcomers, Buehrle says it’s now on the players to produce.
“It’s outstanding. It’s hard not to be excited. You just feel the buzz in the clubhouse, on the bench during the game,” Buehrle said. “David Price walks out and you’re like ‘is this really David Price standing here, is this really Tulowitzki standing in front of us?'”
“We just have to go out there and do the job,” Buehrle continued. “They did everything and probably more than guys can ask for to give us reinforcements, so we’ve just got to go out there and … try to get to the playoffs.”
R.A. Dickey will start on short rest Sunday, when the Blue Jays will look to take three of four from the defending AL pennant winners.
“They’ve got the top team in the American League right now,” Gibbons said. “They’ve got good pitching, they’ve got a great bullpen, they have probably the most team speed in the league and they’ve got the best defence in the league.”
Saturday the combination proved too much for the Blue Jays.
