Toronto Blue Jays fans had so many reasons to be hopeful as April came to an end. The team was off to a strong start, which was crucial given the way early struggles doomed them in 2017.
But as is the case in baseball, everything can change in a month. The Blue Jays have spent much of the past 30 days in complete free fall, enduring a stretch where several worst-case scenarios played out in real time.
Before June commences, here’s a day-by-day look back at why the team will be happy to escape one of the most horror-filled months in recent franchise memory.
As seen on @timandsid, the #BlueJays have been on a tailspin since their strong start to the season. pic.twitter.com/ZqSw5Dd67J
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 30, 2018
May 1
A 16-12 April has the Blue Jays in a good spot as the calendar flips. They carry the good vibes into the next month with a 7-4 comeback win in 10 innings over the Twins.
May 2
In the next game, the Blue Jays record their first loss of the month, a 4-0 defeat in Minnesota. Ironically, Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman enjoys his best outing of the season and lowers his season ERA to 7.52. (More on him later.)
May 3
Steve Pearce hits the disabled list with an oblique strain. Fellow outfielder Randal Grichuk is also part of the infirmary, as is Troy Tulowitzki. They’ll soon have company …
May 6
Shortstop Aledmys Diaz is carted off the field with a severe left ankle sprain. His absence reverberates through the roster, eventually causing the Blue Jays to go more than two weeks without a natural shortstop on the roster.
May 7
No one in the organization is safe. Way down in A-ball, Nate Pearson, arguably the organization’s top pitching prospect, is struck by a line drive. Soon after, the Blue Jays announce he suffered a non-displaced fractured ulna and will be re-evaluated in four to six weeks.
May 8
Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna is arrested by Toronto police and charged with assaulting a woman. He’s placed on administrative leave by MLB and as May concludes, it’s still unclear when he will return to the team.
On the same day, the Blue Jays are no-hit at Rogers Centre by Mariners left-hander James Paxton, who makes history as the first Canadian to toss a no-no on home soil. To make matters worse: He’s a one-time Blue Jays draft pick.
May 11
Stroman is placed on the DL with right shoulder fatigue. He describes the move as a collective decision between himself and Blue Jays medical staff. “(It) just got to a point where it became very frustrating physically and mentally,” Stroman says. “Just at a point where I felt I had to work at 115, 120 per cent where I would normally be working at 80-85 per cent to do what I do out there.”
May 18
Left-hander Jaime Garcia (shoulder inflammation) joins Stroman on the DL, leaving the starting rotation in flux. Joe Biagini and Sam Gaviglio eventually plug those holes, with varying degrees of success.
Before the evening contest against Oakland, Blue Jays players hold a team meeting. “We just brought a couple of things up here and there, just what we need to focus on and I’ll leave it at that,” Josh Donaldson tells Sportsnet. “But I feel like we were able to do a good job of that.”
The Blue Jays end up losing Friday’s game, dropping to 22-23 on the season. They dip below .500 for the first since they were 1-2 on March 31, effectively erasing their strong April record.
May 19
Reliever Tyler Clippard surrenders a grand slam as the Blue Jays bullpen squanders a 4-0 lead to Oakland. An early strength of the team, the relief corps now begins to exhibit major leaks.
May 20
Toronto suffers an ugly loss to the A’s, who pull off a four-game sweep. The Blue Jays commit four errors on the day and rely on designated hitter Kendrys Morales to finish off the blowout affair on the mound. “They needed me for an inning and it happened,” says Morales. “But hopefully it doesn’t happen again. Because, you know, that means that we’re losing.”
May 23
Clippard is the main culprit of another bullpen implosion, this time against the Angels. Two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani lofts an RBI single off the right-hander to cash in two runs and tie the game, before teammate Andrelton Simmons drives in the winner. “You just try to forget about it. I mean, these are tough. I’ve had two tough losses here in a short period of time. You’ve just got to move on,” Clippard says.
May 28
Donaldson exits the afternoon contest in Boston with left calf tightness. He sits out the rest of the series and concludes May in a serious funk at the plate. The third baseman hasn’t homered since May 3 and is batting .213/.319/.313 over his last 94 plate appearances.
In the same contest, right-hander Aaron Sanchez allows a career-high seven earned runs. His struggles — 4.77 ERA on the season, with a 5.2 BB/9 rate — underscore what has become a startling reality for the Blue Jays: A rotation that was a perceived strength at the outset of the season is now a glaring weakness.
May 30
The Blue Jays are swept in three games by the Red Sox, finishing May with a 9-19 record. The club did not win consecutive games at any point in the month. That hasn’t happened in a long, long, time.
#BlueJays will finish May without earning back-to-back wins.
This is the first time they've gone a full calendar month without consecutive victories since May 1979.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 30, 2018
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