TORONTO – How often in the course of the last few weeks have the Blue Jays wondered what it would be like to play a low-leverage baseball game again?
You know, the kind of game where one team builds an early lead and just keeps building as opposed to the seemingly endless stretch of one-run games that make life tough on managers and even tougher on the relievers they rely on to keep things close night after night. The Blue Jays have played 21 of those, three more than any other team in baseball, so who could fault them for wanting a break?
Well, be careful what you wish for. In Friday night’s series opener against the New York Mets at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, the Blue Jays got plenty of low-leverage baseball all right, just not the way they’d have drawn it up. The Blue Jays’ pitching was ineffective, the defence was sloppy and the offence was non-existent in a blowout 18-1 loss that brings their record to 24-20.
"Losing regardless, it's not what you play the game for," starter Chase Anderson said afterwards. "They're all hard to swallow. When they're hard-fought, tooth and nail, extra-inning games where you lose by a run, that might be a little tougher to swallow. This one stings while it happens, but you've got to wash it and come back tomorrow."
The impulse to move on is certainly understandable after a night with plenty of forgettable moments and performances to choose from. Among them: a tough start from Anderson in which he walked three and saw his ERA climb to 5.81; a dropped ball by Danny Jansen on a routine play at the plate that contributed to a 10-run Mets fourth; the worst outing of Anthony Kay’s young career against the team that once made him a first-round pick. It was ugly.
But beyond the details of the game itself, Friday’s blowout raises questions big and small. Short-term, the Blue Jays’ bullpen once again looks taxed after an ineffective outing from Anderson. A parade of five relievers pitched (four if you don’t count shortstop Santiago Espinal, who pitched the ninth), and while off days Thursday and Monday mitigate the toll to an extent, this isn’t how the Blue Jays drew it up.
If you’re really looking for silver linings, you’ll note that the one-sided game allowed Ken Giles to ease himself back in low leverage. Giles, who had been sidelined since July 26 with a forearm strain, allowed a home run on the first pitch he threw before striking out two Mets and topping out at 95.2 m.p.h.
"That was good to see," manager Charlie Montoyo said. "His slider was good. He looked really good to us. That's good news for us."
Of course, juggling a bullpen is nothing new for this Blue Jays team. Perhaps more important is the question of what happens when the Blue Jays start facing more aces. There aren’t many pitchers like Jacob deGrom, the two-time defending NL Cy Young winner who may well be on his way to a third. Facing the Blue Jays Friday, his performance was characteristically excellent: six innings of one run ball with nine strikeouts thanks to a fastball that reached triple digits and a slider that travels faster than most heaters.
"He's one of the best," Anderson said. "He's an elite pitcher. I always like watching him throw as a fan of baseball. deGrom is one of the best for sure, but I love that I'm in the same league as him and I get to match up against him. I don't take those games lightly."
Chances are, deGrom’s first-ever start against the Blue Jays will be his last for a long while. But the American League has some pretty good pitchers, too, and at some point within the next few weeks, the Blue Jays could easily be facing Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito or Gerrit Cole in a must-win game. At that point, they’ll be longing for the days when they got to feast on the back end of the Boston bullpen.
"It's just what it is,” Montoyo said. “The deeper you go, the better the pitching's going to be, but that'll be a good test for our guys."
Granted, every playoff team faces the same challenge – there are simply more aces in October. But even if the Blue Jays have no answers for deGrom, they’ll need to succeed against other elite arms to get anywhere in the post-season.
At this stage, none of those questions are pressing, as the Blue Jays have some time remaining in the regular season and space between themselves and their biggest threat, the Orioles, who trail them by 3.0 games.
Lopsided loss or not, the Blue Jays are still in a good position. But for one night at least, it’s a good thing no fans were there to see them play.