KANSAS CITY — Hitting in the bottom third of Kansas City’s lineup and carrying a .201/.221/.262 batting line into Saturday’s game, you’d think Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar would be the least of the Toronto Blue Jays’ worries.
But, as it happens, the 30-year-old Venezuelan’s been a real problem for the Blue Jays this weekend. Remember, it was Escobar who served a soft single into right field with two out in the bottom of the ninth Friday against Ryan Tepera, extending an inning that eventually ended in disaster for Toronto. And Escobar was again an issue Saturday, picking up three hits and scoring the winning run in a 3-2 Blue Jays loss, spoiling an otherwise strong afternoon from Toronto starter Marco Estrada in the process.
Coming off four consecutive rough outings, Estrada was in control Saturday and didn’t allow a hit until the third, when Escobar lifted a tall fly ball with a hit probability of 14 per cent into right-centre field. That’s where Blue Jays outfielders Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista miscommunicated, letting the ball drop just beyond their reach as they collided with one-another. Escobar cruised into third and, a batter later, scored on a sacrifice fly to left field, just beating Steve Pearce’s throw to the plate.
Estrada started the fourth by watching Eric Hosmer hit a 1-0 change-up 381 feet over the wall in right-centre, but retired the next three batters with ease. He put two runners on in the fifth after Escobar’s lead-off single and a walk, but worked his way out of the jam.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays certainly had their opportunities early on against Royals starter Jason Vargas. Josh Donaldson doubled in the first, but was left right there. Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo shot in the second, his first home run in nearly a month, to put the Blue Jays on the board.
Bautista singled in the third but was stranded, as was Justin Smoak in the fourth. In the fifth, Pillar and Darwin Barney led off with singles, but No. 9 hitter Luke Maile popped up on a sacrifice bunt attempt, leaving them right where they were. Bautista was next, and he rolled over a full-count Vargas change-up, grounding into an inning-ending double-play.
The Blue Jays tied the game in the seventh, when Pillar got an 0-1 Vargas two-seamer on the plate and didn’t miss it, hitting his ninth home run 406 feet into the left-field stands.
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But there was Escobar again in the seventh, swatting a one-out Estrada curveball into left field for a bloop single that Pearce couldn’t make a play on. This time, Escobar at least raised his hit probability to 17 per cent, as the ball came off his bat at only 73 m.p.h.
“It felt like a lifetime the ball was up in the air,” Estrada said. “But it’s a big field. Guys were playing deep and it fell in, which sucks.”
Two pitches later, Alex Gordon mustered a real hit, driving an 0-1 Estrada change-up on the plate into the right-field corner to score Escobar all the way from first. Estrada walked his next batter on four pitches before bearing down and getting Jorge Bonifacio to pop out and Lorenzo Cain to ground out to short, after Tulowitzki made a terrific play on a 99-m.p.h. ball.
But Escobar’s run was enough to give the Royals the win, and spoil a fine outing from Estrada, who allowed three runs on five hits over his seven innings. He was pushed to 117 pitches on the afternoon, the most he’s thrown in more than a year, partly because he wasn’t giving up much hard contact and partly because the Blue Jays bullpen came into the game beyond taxed.
Estrada had his swing-and-miss stuff for the first time this month, earning 18 swinging strikes, including 10 with his fastball, which is always impressive considering it averaged just 90.5 m.p.h. on the day. Estrada threw 76 heaters, while going to his change-up 29 times. He used only 11 curveballs, reminding the Royals he had it from time to time.
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But while the effectiveness of Estrada’s pitches helped, he said his biggest step forward Saturday was mental.
“Obviously, I’ve had really rough outings lately. Sometimes it’s hard to get out of that,” Estrada said. “You put things in your head that you’re not supposed to. So, today, I just let it all go and said, ‘You’re better than this. Make pitches, and stop worrying about everything.’
“My last outing, I struggled with negativity. I don’t know why it happens but it does,” he continued. “You’ve just got to let it go. Go out there, know you can do it, and just try to make pitches. So, I let everything go and I didn’t really think about anything, to be honest with you. Just kept seeing the glove, kept trying to make pitches, and that was basically it.”
With the loss, the Blue Jays fell to four games below .500 for the first time since late May. Toronto’s struggles to reach .500 are well documented, and the team will now have to run off a mini-winning streak to soon get in position to try again. If it doesn’t, it’ll have to try to reach that plateau against some of the best teams in the American League, as series versus the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Houston Astros loom on the horizon before the all-star break.
“We need to pick it up. We’re, right now, going a little bit backwards,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “We keep climbing close. We don’t want to go in that other direction. So, we need to pick it up.”