TORONTO — The primary highlights for the Toronto Blue Jays as they won consecutive games for the first time this young season came from Chris Bassitt, who shoved for 6.2 innings, and Bo Bichette, whose first homer of the year provided the key blow.
Yet in many ways, the third-inning sequence by Daulton Varsho and George Springer that produced the first run of Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners is perhaps most emblematic of the team-centric style of play the Blue Jays aim to establish as their identity.
It’s not just that Varsho singled with one out in the third, advanced to second on a disengagement violation and scored on a Springer RBI single. What matters is how one fed into the other, softening up George Kirby both in the moment and later in the inning, when Bichette’s two-run drive opened things up.
In that way, every ounce of pressure the Blue Jays applied compounded on the Mariners, increasing the chances of success down the line.
"For sure," said manager John Schneider. "The last two nights, we wore down their starters, really, in terms of pitches the first four innings or so. Then you get some guys that can do things on the bases, takes attention elsewhere a little bit, it just helps the hitter. Stuff we talked about in spring training, give the guy in the box as much of an advantage as you can, whether it's a dirt ball or getting to second on a stolen base. Hitting becomes easier and easier as you put more pressure on the pitcher. That's what we're talking about right there."
Varsho worked to drive Kirby to distraction at first throughout Springer’s at-bat by threatening to steal, eventually drawing three throws over that instead handed him the 90 feet. At the same time, Springer was fouling off eight consecutive pitches of the best stuff from the electric-armed right-hander, seven between 95.1 and 96.9 m.p.h., grinding him down.
"I've been taught that when you're on the bases and you create havoc, you create an uneasiness for the pitcher," said Varsho. "More than likely when that happens, they're going to make those mistakes because they're rushing and maybe don't get the best grip that they feel. And that makes it easier for the person at the plate."
Two pitches after Varsho reached second, Springer lashed a slider to centre that opened the scoring. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a roller to third that Josh Rojas relayed to Jorge Polanco at second for the second out, but Springer slid hard into the bag, his shoulder driving into Polanco to prevent him from attempting a double play.
That kept the inning alive for Bichette, who fouled off three straight pitches, took a ball and then hammered a slider 431 feet to left.
"That was an incredible at-bat," Bichette said of Springer. "I knew that if George was going to stay on every pitch, he was going to win that battle. It was pretty apparent from my side of things, and that's a great pitcher. So a great at-bat, making guys work, fouling off tough pitches, all of that can, at times, create doubt in the pitcher's head. And that's only good for all of us."
Said Springer: "For us as a team, that's what we want to do. Be a hard out. Have a good at-bat. Daulton started us off, he got to first base and then for us to kind of string stuff together, obviously the big hit was Bo, is huge."
Worked over in the third, the Blue Jays stayed on Kirby again in the fourth. Cavan Biggio led off with a single, stole second and scored on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s double, with him later coming around on another RBI single from Springer.
With Bassitt rolling at that point, the Blue Jays returned to .500 at 6-6 before a crowd of 31,310, with a chance at a series sweep Wednesday afternoon when Yusei Kikuchi starts against Logan Gilbert.
Bassitt did have to work around some traffic, allowing five hits and four walks, but struck out and induced a pair of double plays. He was never really threatened, the only run against him coming on Dominic Canzone’s solo shot with two out in the seventh.
Schneider gave Bassitt some run to try and finish the inning, even though he was already at 109 pitches, but Rojas followed with a single and that was his night. Trevor Richards came on to get J.P. Crawford to end the frame and though he gave up a two-run shot to Mitch Haniger in the eighth, Chad Green recorded four outs to lock down the win.
For Bassitt, the outing was his best of the season by far, after starts that unravelled on him in Tampa Bay and Houston. He was relieved about that and convinced that better was due for him and the rotation as a whole, he was also full of praise for Springer.
"Single-handedly the best at-bat of the day was George," said Bassitt. "I mean, it's basic math. I would say 100 pitches is the norm, George just used up 10 per cent of your game, and you didn't even get an out on it. That stinks. And those long at-bats or the high-stress at-bats, when you lose those as a pitcher, it's not good.”
For Kirby and the Mariners, it very much wasn’t, Varsho and Springer combining to help an inning and eventually a start, unravel.
“I said, 'Thank you,' just because I knew how many he had,” Varsho said of his reaction to the disengagement call. “And I'm sure with that long at-bat he probably forgot. If we can move bases like that, that's a really huge thing… because any pitcher pretty much can relate, when you have to make those extra pitches every single inning, it just keeps adding up and then you make those mistakes over the middle of the plate that we hammer.”
