TORONTO – Every time out for the Toronto Blue Jays feels like a different version of the same game, something like 2-2 in the seventh inning, the margins so thin that any little moment can be the difference between a win and a loss.
That was certainly the weekend against the American-League leading Detroit Tigers, who capped a tight and entertaining series by taking Sunday’s rubber match 3-2.
In yet their latest high-leverage, grinding affair of a young season filled with such affairs, the Blue Jays fell behind on Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double in the first, eked out a pair in the fourth to tie the game, fell behind again on Torkelson’s RBI single in the seventh and squandered a pair of chances to rally before a Rogers Centre crowd of 36,046.
As usual, there was drama down to the end, as Andy Ibanez’s error on Bo Bichette’s smash to third with two out in the ninth brought Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to the plate, but his 100.8-m.p.h. chopper off Will Vest went right to Gleyber Torres at second for the final out.
The Blue Jays (22-24) are now 2-4 in a homestand in which three of the games have been decided by one run and two others settled by two runs, with the powerhouse San Diego Padres arriving Tuesday for the first of three that promise more stressful baseball.
“When it's tight like this, you've got to play tight, not tight nerve-wise, just tight fundamentally,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “It could have easily been an error by the third baseman and Vlad hits a walk-off homer, little things like that. Things on the bases. All those little things have to be synced up to give yourself a little bit more margin for error. That's kind of the way I look at it.”
The Blue Jays had their chances for more in the finale against the Tigers.
They let Jackson Jobe escape a loud and shaky first, although Akil Baddoo played a key role there by leaping against the left-field wall to rob Daulton Varsho of extra bases after the first two batters reached. The left-fielder followed that with a sliding catch on an Alejandro Kirk smash and a quick relay to second to double off Bichette.
The Blue Jays also put two on with none out in the fifth only to come up empty, magnifying the Tigers’ pivotal rally in the seventh that was helped along by Ibanez’s dribbler to third. That put two on for Torkelson, whose single to centre plated the decisive run.
Under normal circumstances, Varsho might have had a shot to get lead runner Torres at the plate, but his throwing is still somewhat limited by last summer’s shoulder surgery. The relay back to infield was only 67 m.p.h., which was his third-hardest throw of the season but well off his 2024 average of 83.7 m.p.h. He’s only cracked 70 m.p.h. once so far – hitting 74.3 on a May 8 sacrifice fly – and that’s surely something rival clubs have picked up on in their scouting.
“Still trying to be smart with it,” Schneider said of the guidance to Varsho on throwing. “There are certain distances where it’s like, OK, let it go, and certain distances where we want the middle guys to get out there a little bit. You take Varsh any day of the week in the outfield. But, yeah, there are certain things we've talked about until he really gets into the full swing of it that we'll adjust a little bit.”
Of course, had the Blue Jays been better hitting with runners in scoring position Sunday, it would not have mattered. But as they went 2-for-12, getting only RBI singles from Kirk and Ernie Clement in the fourth, it once again raised the stakes on each moment.
“It’s hard because those kinds of games, both teams have a chance to win, you know it's going to be (decided) by just one run, either a good swing, or a bad pitch and the offence takes advantage,” said Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios. “But if we continue to do our thing, keep consistent and keep together, making quality pitches and the offensive side keeps taking quality at-bats, we're going to have a chance to win ballgames.”
Berrios gave his team six strong innings of two-run ball, an essential contribution after an aggressive game of bullpenning in Saturday’s walk-off 2-1 win that featured three innings from starter Eric Lauer followed by five relievers.
Like Jobe, Berrios found himself in early trouble, allowing singles to the first two left-handed batters he faced before Torkelson clubbed his two-run double to open the scoring. But the veteran righty settled from there, working out of jams in the second and fifth innings, allowing Blue Jays hitters to undo the early deficit.
Berrios also got the best of his brother-in-law Javier Baez, whose resurgence this year has helped drive the Tigers’ early-season success. Baez lined out softly to shortstop after the first two batters reached in the second, lined out to second in the fourth and then struck out to end the sixth.
The two trained at the same facility in Puerto Rico over the winter, with Berrios saying Baez “was more focused because he went to get healthy quicker (from hip surgery last summer) and he did that. He also made some adjustments hitting-wise. … He attacked what he needed to attack in his weaknesses. … He's been having fun out there and when Javy's doing good out there, I think MLB is better.”
Save for familial faceoffs.
“We always respect and love each other, but when we compete, we compete,” said Berrios. “After the game, we can go back to being family members.”
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And the Blue Jays will resume trying to more consistently align the three elements of their game. Berrios feels that though they’ve lost consecutive series, “we are playing much better lately and I think we are close to clicking all altogether.”
In the interim, as they keep finding themselves playing in games that are close late, Schneider believes the Blue Jays are learning about themselves while carving out an identity as a team that “is going to do anything that they can to win every single day.”
"The first thing is that they don't they don't quit,” Schneider continued. “We're in so many games. And like, I said (after Saturday's 2-1 win), sometimes you get the big hit or the big pitch, sometimes you don't. But, yeah, it's a lot of really tight games against a really good team. Probably happen again on Tuesday. It shows the fight. It shows the will and the want to win, which is great. …
“It will come together,” he added later. “And when it does, it'll be a lot less stressful.”
Given how things have gone this season, that would definitely be different.
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