TORONTO – Chris Sale flies at batters in a heap of spindly limbs with low-90s heat, a slider that tears through the strike zone, and a changeup he seems to pull away from opposing bats with a string. Regardless of on which side of the plate a batter stands, but especially so for left-handed hitters versus the southpaw, it’s a very uncomfortable at-bat. Save for the rare days when his stuff just isn’t there, runs are going to be very tough to come by.
That was especially true Tuesday night, when Sale held the Toronto Blue Jays down for eight innings of four-hit ball in a 10-1 Chicago White Sox victory. The same could not be said for R.A. Dickey, who threw some good knuckleballs in spurts, but was knocked around for six runs on eight hits and a walk over six-plus innings by the early American League leaders. A fifth loss in seven games extended the Blue Jays’ current run of misery before a crowd of 23,726, which cheered loudest when the final score of the Toronto Raptors’ 102-99 playoff win over the Indiana Pacers was flashed on the videoboard.
That’s the kind of night it was, and for good measure the 10-12 Blue Jays get Jose Quintana in Wednesday’s series finale, so Marco Estrada is faced with some heavy lifting to keep things from getting worse before they get better.
“It feels very familiar from the past years that I’ve been here, for myself and for the team for that matter,” said Dickey, who finished April at 1-3 in five starts with a career-high ERA of 6.75 for the month. “We’ve always been pretty much a slow-starting team, it takes us a little bit to find our rhythm, it seems, and that’s the same for me in particular. Nobody in here is panicking at all, and we’ve got the players in here to do it, it’s just a matter of being consistent, and I’m speaking about me more than anybody.”
On Tuesday, Avisail Garcia’s smash to centre leading off the third positioned the Blue Jays behind the 8-ball, and a three-run fifth, keyed by Austin Jackson’s two-run double with the bases loaded and none out, put the game out of reach.
The first four batters of the frame all reached before Dickey recovered to retire three straight and escape the frame.
“I feel like I’m in a good place mechanically, I know the results aren’t there right now, but the movement of the pitch is pretty good, it’s coming out of my hand with no spin, I’m changing speeds with it in the strike zone well,” he said. “You’re always going to be tinkering, right, you’re always trying to grow from outing to outing, but for the most part the foundation I feel is there, I just need to be able to arrest the damage in a big inning better. I’ve had some three-run innings this year that really hurt me.”
As the White Sox piled on the runs, Sale was in the midst of retiring 13 straight batters from the third to seventh innings, a run that ended when Edwin Encarnacion pummelled a 92-mph fastball into the second deck in centre field for his 200th career home run with the Blue Jays.
Since the White Sox had tacked on another three spot in the top of the frame on Dioner Navarro’s two-run homer that ended Dickey’s night and a Jose Abreu RBI single off Joe Biagini, all the homer did was spoil Sale’s shutout bid.
“I was looking for the fastball all night, he threw me a lot of breaking pitches, changeup, curveball, and that AB he threw me two straight fastballs,” said Encarnacion. “It’s not a good situation, we lost the game, but I’m happy for the 200th home run with the Blue Jays.”
Sale walked two and struck out six in opening a season at 5-0 for the second time in his career. Encarnacion’s homer ended a streak of 22 innings without an earned run for Sale.
“He’s got command and he’s pitching,” said Encarnacion. “He can control his fastball, from 91 to 96 and good sink, that’s what makes him tough.”
Added Blue Jays manager John Gibbons: “He attacks. You knew going in you couldn’t afford to give up too many, they opened it up there a little bit and then really added on. Tough night.”
The slumping Drew Storen continued slumping in the ninth, surrendering a homer to Eaton and three more hits while recording just one more out, with Gibbons turning to Pat Venditte to escape the frame.
“He needed an inning of work,” Gibbons said of Storen. “It wasn’t a good outing for him, that’s for sure, but I don’t put a lot of stock in those kinds of games when you come in. Somebody’s got to pitch it.”
There’s no shame in losing to Sale, but there is in surrendering a season-high 10 runs the day after blowing a 5-1 lead with seven outs to go, an indication of how things are going for the Blue Jays right now.