TORONTO — The last few innings of Monday’s game featured a week's worth of highs and lows for the Toronto Blue Jays.
A no-hit bid from Jose Soriano. A sudden four-run rally from the Detroit Tigers. A three-run homer from Kazuma Okamoto. And then, in case that wasn’t enough, an uncharacteristically tough outing from Louis Varland, who allowed an RBI single in the eighth before making a crucial error in the ninth.
The result was a 6-5 Tigers win that cost the Blue Jays a chance to gain a game on the Cleveland Guardians, who lost 7-3 to the Chicago White Sox. Instead, the Blue Jays remain one game behind Cleveland in the American League wild card race with 11 regular season games remaining.
“Baseball is like that,” Soriano said afterwards. “It’s sometimes going to be back and forth. Even the way I started the game, sometimes it’s going to happen.”
Since the White Sox and Guardians are playing in Cleveland this week, the Blue Jays can be sure they’ll gain ground on one of those AL Central teams every time they take care of business at Rogers Centre. But on Monday, they couldn’t make that happen.
For most of the evening, the Blue Jays seemed well positioned to build on Sunday’s win and establish a little momentum. Soriano was dealing early, taking a perfect game into the sixth and carrying a no-hitter into the seventh.
“Everything was working well,” Soriano recalled. “I was pounding the zone.”
But after dominating through six, he allowed hits to five of the first six Tigers he faced in the seventh. By the time the inning ended, four runs had scored and Soriano was watching Paul Sewald from the third-base dugout.
“His stuff was really good,” Schneider said of Soriano. “He had a really good fastball tonight … I think it was just a couple hanging break balls in the seventh inning and it happened pretty quick.”
“Credit to the hitters,” Soriano added.
All told, Soriano pitched 6.1 innings while allowing four earned runs, striking out five and walking one. But on a day relievers Tyler Rogers and Mason Fluharty were down the Blue Jays had to mix and match in the bullpen, turning to Sewald, who did his job well and Joe Mantiply, who allowed hits to two of the three hitters he faced.
Afterwards, Schneider said he wished all his relievers could be available every day, but noted that some rest is necessary even for soft-tossing veterans like Rogers.
“When a guy throws 83 from down under, you think you can pitch them every day,” Schneider said. “I wish he could. I wish he was available tonight and I wish they were all available every night and they didn't get tired, but he's got the same restrictions as everybody.”
Later, Varland couldn’t handle a well-placed feed from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base and Zach McKinstry scored the winning run as a result. Without calling out Varland by name, Schneider acknowledged it’s a throw that needs to be caught.
“Vlad made a good throw,” Schneider said. “And we just didn’t execute.”
While the bullpen clearly let the Blue Jays down this time, the manager also pointed to missed opportunities at the plate early in the game and commended the team’s relievers for their contributions in recent weeks.
“They've all been really good,” he said. “We’ve relied on them really, really heavily. They’re a huge reason why we are where we are. And they're going to continue to be (relied upon) down the stretch.”
Thanks to Okamoto, the tenor of the game flipped back almost immediately after the Tigers finally broke through against Soriano. With two on and two out in the bottom of the seventh, the third baseman hit his 33rd home run of the season to give the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead.
“I almost jumped,” Soriano recalled. “I was very impressed.”
Not only did Okamoto’s swing give the Blue Jays the lead, but it set a new single-season record for right-handed hitters from Japan, passing Seiya Suzuki. With 33 home runs, 88 RBI and a .779 OPS, Okamoto will earn some Rookie of the Year consideration alongside the likes of Kevin McGonigle and Payton Tolle.
“He's had a hell of a year,” Schneider said of Okamoto. “That's a big swing in a big spot. He seems to be in a pretty good groove right now, and that definitely shifted our momentum. But man, he's exceeded expectations offensively. He's been huge for us all year.”
The crowd of 42,867 burst into cheers while George Springer raised his arms in celebration at second base.
Springer reached again to lead off the ninth inning, but this time there were no heroics.
There goes one chance for the Blue Jays to prove they belong in October. Now it’s time to make the most of the 11 games they have remaining or end up on the outside looking in.
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