BALTIMORE — The Toronto Blue Jays were expecting Chris Bassitt to be fired up when he took the mound against his former team on Thursday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
“I'm expecting him to want to throw a no-hitter,” quipped Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
“He rises to the occasion,” said right-hander Jeff Hoffman.
Bassitt, who signed a one-year deal with Baltimore in the winter after three successful seasons in Toronto, would frequently pop into hitters’ meetings while with the Blue Jays. He’s as observant as anybody in the game and loved to chat with teammates about how they were being attacked in the box.
“I wouldn't be surprised if he pitches great,” said Kevin Gausman before Thursday’s contest. “He knows these guys better than most of the teams he's facing and knows their weaknesses and so, you know he's gonna try to exploit those.”
Bassitt did just that during his outing, stifling the visitors over six strong innings. However, the Blue Jays were able to get to the Orioles bullpen, with Yohendrick Piñango drawing a bases-loaded walk to plate the go-ahead run and secure a tight, 2-1 win during the opener of a four-game set between the AL East rivals. With the victory, the Blue Jays improved to 28-29 on the season.
Bassitt allowed just one run, an Andrés Giménez homer, on four hits over six innings, walking one and striking out two. The right-hander has struggled this season, entering Thursday with a 5.51 ERA, yet looked like the best version of himself against the Blue Jays. He filled up the zone with his six pitches and kept hard contact to a minimum.
“It looked very familiar,” said Schneider. “He had a pretty deliberate game plan and stuck to it.”
Meanwhile, Blue Jays’ left-hander Patrick Corbin matched Bassitt, surrendering just a solo homer to Coby Mayo over his five-plus innings. Corbin put runners on second and third in both the first and fifth innings yet bore down and made pitches to escape the jams unharmed. He allowed just four hits and lowered his ERA to 3.65 across 10 starts and 49.1 innings this year.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen provided four frames of scoreless relief, buying the offence enough time to come through. George Springer doubled off Orioles right-hander Anthony Nunez to begin the eighth inning and walks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho loaded the bases, setting up Piñango to push across the eventual winning run with his own base on balls.
The Orioles threatened in the bottom of the frame, putting two runners on, but Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela picked off Pete Alonso at first to end the inning. Guerrero Jr. called for the play when he noticed Alonso was taking a wide lead off the bag and Valenzuela executed perfectly.
It’s just the latest example of the rookie backstop’s impressive showing during his first taste of the majors.
“He’s very athletic back there and the more experience he gets, especially with some guys like me and some other guys he hasn't caught as much, is only going to help,” Corbin said. “Just a very heads up play by him and Vladdy there. Those are huge plays in the game that can turn it.”
Bassitt made sure the game hadn’t turned yet when he was still on the mound. He was stoic and businesslike, not even flinching when Springer settled into the box at the start of the game and stuck out his tongue in a jovial manner.
“I thought we'd see maybe one or two smiles, but you didn't get any of that,” said outfielder Myles Straw. “He was locked in.”
That’s Bassitt on his game day, of course, and those inside the Blue Jays’ clubhouse lauded the 12-year veteran for his fun-loving nature and ability to lighten up the room.
He also burns to win and following the Blue Jays’ last-place finish in 2024, Bassitt led the charge in streamlining the communication methods between the front office and coaching staff with the players. He also pushed to shuffle the locker setup in the home clubhouse at Rogers Centre to ensure position players were interspersed with pitchers.
Gausman looks back at those contributions from Bassitt as vital to helping the Blue Jays build impactful camaraderie that in part helped the club reach the World Series last year.
“He was really big in putting his foot in the door in some of those conversations, whereas in the past, maybe the players were kind of kept in the dark in some of those things,” said Gausman. “He was like, ‘Hey, I want to be part of this conversation. If we're talking about me and the defensive alignment when I'm pitching, let me be a part of it. Talk to me about it.’”
Bassitt, along with fellow veteran Max Scherzer, pushed to be part of conversations with the coaching staff that usually don’t include players and Gausman says watching that unfold has changed his own perspective.
“I was never on a team that had veteran starters who felt that comfortable that they could do that. They've opened my eyes,” said Gausman, who’s in his 14th big-league season. “I just kind of always felt like, ‘We're on the field, just kind of worry about on the field stuff.’ And seeing the way that Bass was able to get [the coaches and front office] to think of us as being maybe a little smarter than they think and having more to say maybe than they thought, was really big.
“I feel like it's okay for me to do that now.”
That’s a strong legacy for Bassitt to leave behind, not to mention his ability to post on the mound. He averaged 32 starts and 180 innings with a 3.89 ERA during his time with the Blue Jays.
“He's a guy that we definitely miss,” said Gausman. “Wish nothing but the best for him. He's a guy I always root for.”
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