ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The margins are thin for the Toronto Blue Jays right now, making wins stressful and losses painful.
On a night the offence continued to falter, the Blue Jays had a good chance for a stressful win at Tropicana Field Tuesday.
But after turning the ball over to Tyler Rogers with an eighth-inning lead, the sidearmer allowed runs for just the second time this season and a near-win turned into a late 4-3 loss as the Blue Jays fell to 16-20 on the season.
Rogers entered play with an ERA of 0.55 and hadn't allowed a run since April 15, but a string of four consecutive hits eluded Blue Jays defenders, allowing the Rays to take the lead.
“They found holes,” said manager John Schneider. “He can get some bad batted ball luck and that was kind of the case today against some guys that make contact … When you’re playing here or when you’re going through it a little, it seems like those balls are just out of reach.”
Before the late-inning drama, Kevin Gausman provided six innings of two-run ball, allowing just six hits and one walk while striking out three. His average fastball velocity was up to 94.4 m.p.h., an encouraging development that stems from feeling stronger physically than he had in either of his previous two starts.
“Definitely a trend in the right direction, stuff-wise,” Gausman said. “I just felt like I wasn’t moving the way that I should. (Now) I feel like I’m on the right track.”
“I thought he was really good,” Schneider agreed. “The split was better and the velo was better. When he has that he’s usually really good.”
That’s now eight total strikeouts over Gausman's last three starts, yet the Blue Jays will always sign up for two runs over six innings from a pitcher whose season ERA now sits at 3.09.
“That’s amazing,” said catcher Brandon Valenzuela. “That’s an ability, in my opinion – to limit damage.”
On offence, George Springer returned to the lineup for the first time since taking a foul ball off his broken left toe Saturday, but went hitless in five at-bats. While No. 3 hitter Kazuma Okamoto hit his 10th home run of the season, the Blue Jays didn’t score after the fifth.
“You want to keep adding on,” Schneider said. “And we just didn’t have the ability to do that today.”
But while Springer’s day was relatively quiet, Valenzuela had a more eventful evening. He missed on two challenges early in the game and drew an important walk in the fifth only to get thrown out trying to advance soon afterwards.
With the benefit of hindsight, the Blue Jays would have liked to see Valenzuela retreat to first base sooner, putting him in a better position to advance.
“At first, I thought the ball was going to land,” Valenzuela said.
Once he realized Cedric Mullins would catch it, the catcher retreated and first base coach Mark Budzinski told him to go. Head down, he raced for second and a strong throw beat him.
“We can’t see because of the roof,” he said. “I saw the (throwing) motion, but I didn’t see the ball.”
Between Valenzuela’s learning curve and Tyler Heineman’s frustrating start to the season, the Blue Jays are feeling the absence of Alejandro Kirk, who’s slated to start swinging again soon.
Meanwhile, Tuesday was a partial day off for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had played the previous 11 days in a row.
“Think he could use it, too, to be honest with you,” Schneider said. “Just kind of reset him a little bit.
“It’s hard to not put him in the lineup,” the manager continued, “but everyone needs a day here and there.”
Guerrero Jr. would eventually pinch hit, grounding out to third in his lone at-bat before taking over at first base.
Alongside the action on the field, there was intrigue behind the scenes at Tropicana Field as Jose Berrios was set to go for an MRI Tuesday evening after feeling more soreness than usual following his latest triple-A rehab start.
"The hope is that it's just kind of like that dead arm phase," Schneider said. "Heightened (concern), yeah, a little bit whenever you get an MRI and especially from a guy that really knows himself."
The Blue Jays will know more by Wednesday, but in the meantime, it’s clear the tests keep coming for the organization’s pitching depth. That means extended run for Eric Lauer and Patrick Corbin, and intensifies the spotlight on the likes of Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber as they work their way back.
On Wednesday, it’ll be Corbin who takes the mound as the Blue Jays look to avoid a sweep at the place they’re now 92-146 all-time.
“There’s a lot of things we need to do better,” Gausman said. “It just comes down to wanting it, but we feel confident in everyone in that room. It is frustrating for sure because we know how good we can be, but right now we’re just not playing to the level that we can.”
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